Empire of the Rising DEAD
by KillerSpoon13
Summary: Follow a group of martial artists as they struggle to survive in the fictional world of the dead. Takes place in the same High school, but with some alterations. OC centric. Read, review, and remember to prepare for the day the dead rise.
1. Profiles

**(A/N): **I'll be constantly updating this page as the story progresses, including individual/incomplete profiles. After every chapter, you might want to check for updates in this page as well.

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><p><strong>Profiles:<strong>

Name: Reo Seishin

Nationality: Japanese

Age: 17 Gender: Male

Description:

Senior high school student and the team captain of the school's kendo club. At the age of 7, his family was killed in a car accident where only he survived. Ever since this event, he has developed a dual personality; one born from hatred and sorrow, while the other thrives in simple happiness. Later on, he was sent to live in the province with his uncle, who was a prominent kendo practitioner and teacher. Ever since then, for 10 years, Reo has trained with his Uncle every time he got the chance. Now, he is living in apartments by himself but goes back to the province whenever he gets the chance. In school, he is known for being a kind person capable of working both alone, and in a group. Even though he is fine being alone, he sometimes goes out with friends to watch horror movies and play computer games. He was put in charge of the group of male martial artists going to the tournament. The only reason why Reo is the team captain of the kendo club instead of JC is due to his second personality "enjoying" the heat of the battle and releasing all the raw sorrow and aggression he's kept since his family died, earning him a win with a 1 point difference which took almost half an hour to accomplish. Ever since the fight, his second personality became dormant and hasn't gone out again.

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><p>Name: Jac Torres<p>

Nationality: Spanish

Age: 17 Gender: Male

Description:

Senior high school student, and currently part of the school's karate club, though he is learned in other close quarter combat styles. A great friend of Reo, he is also two faced; sometimes serious, and sometimes crazy and lively. His mood can easily be changed as he gets pissed and pleased very easily. He first came to Japan four years back to attend high school and met Reo during that time as well. His family is still back in Spain, but his little sister accompanied him to Japan also for educational purposes. He started practicing martial arts at the age of 9, after a tragic incident that made him care a lot more for people dear to him happened. Now, he is living in an apartment with his little sister.

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><p>Name: Anna Torres<p>

Nationality: Spanish

Age: 9 Gender: Female

Description:

Grade school student, and little sister of Jac. Deep inside the shell of a little girl is actually a smart and mature person. Although she sometimes teases and annoys people, she also shows a kinder side. Four years ago, she was sent by her parents to Japan, along with her older brother to study. Even though they only use an apartment, she sometimes comes along with her brother to any sleep-over events he may have. Most of the time, she would rather follow her brother around since there's barely anything to do back in the apartment other than study and watch TV. Though only nine years old, she also knows how to cook her own meals, and do her own chores. Overall, she's a very responsible little girl… who has a tendency to create comedic moments.

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><p>Name: Franz der Drache<p>

Nationality: ½ German / Chinese

Age: 17 Gender: Male

Description:

Senior high school student, and currently part of the school's karate club. He is a beginner in karate, but he joined only because there was no club for the martial art he was practicing: jeet kune do. He wishes to follow Bruce Lee's fighting style so he practices jeet kune do on a regular basis. Franz is known for being an optimistic and energetic dude with a bit of musical talent. He would rather do fun things than study, but he's capable of getting good scores, both in the games he plays, and in tests.

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><p>Name: Robbie Lenhart<p>

Nationality: American

Age: 17 Gender: Male

Description:

Senior high school student, and a member of the kendo club. Robbie came to Japan 2 years back with his twin brother, Bryan. Though they have different fighting styles, they both took up martial arts at the same time, at the age of 13. He prefers to watch movies and listen to music. Just like Franz, he has musical talent in singing and playing the guitar. Robbie is pretty much the good twin, as he his optimistic, and can easily inspire people.

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><p>Name: Bryan Lenhart<p>

Nationality: American

Age: 17 Gender: Male

Description:

Senior high school student, unlike his sword wielding twin, Bryan is a happy-go-lucky practitioner of tae kwon do and is a member of said club. He also likes watching movies, but prefers zombie and horror flicks. While Robbie is musically inclined, Bryan is a hardcore gamer. He has great knowledge on zombies, guns, tactics, and formations. Though it can't be said that he's evil, his unusual pieces of knowledge, and his personality can be very eccentric.

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><p>Name: JC Hibiki<p>

Nationality: ½ Japanese / European

Age: 17 Gender: Male

Description:

Senior high school student, and second-in-command of the kendo club. JC is a person who can be serious and happy-go-lucky at the same time. Though he is known for being kind and lending a helping hand to people who ask, he can be a bit sadistic at times. He has been practicing aikido ever since he was 7 years old, but decided to learn kendo instead. His extraordinary skill in the art was only discovered just recently, but he was able to ascend through the ranks and become the second-in-command, or the vice-captain of the kendo club. Just like Reo, his actual home is in the province, but he rents an apartment in the city; the same one as Reo, actually, so sometimes they both go home together.

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><p>Name: Ramon Garcia<p>

Nationality: European

Age: 17 Gender: Male

Description:

Senior high school student and member of the kendo club, Ramon is a serious guy and gamer who came to Japan a year back to study programming in the colleges. He is a person who usually just talks to his friends and sometimes follows something along the lines of a "speak only when spoken to" policy. He excels in almost anything related to music, and is more proficient in it than Robbie, as he can play various instruments ranging from flutes to guitars to pianos with skill and ease. The only reason he joined the kendo club was because the music club was full, but rest assured, in spars and fights, he is very much capable of orchestrating a symphony of strikes and slashes to win.

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><p>Name: Justin Wook<p>

Nationality: Korean

Age: 17 Gender: Male

Description:

Senior high school student and a member of the kendo club, Justin is a loose person who likes to complain and can be annoying. In some debates, he can tend to be a hypocrite, while still presenting good points. He came to Japan the same time as Ramon, and somewhat became friends as they shared the same tastes in music. He first applied in a choir-like club, but quit after a few sessions. After that, he joined the school's dancing club and showed that he could break dance to a degree, earning him the name "JDog". He quit the club after his first month due to an accident where one of his club mates "accidentally" kicked him in the family jewels while trying to break dance. Now, he says that he found his true calling in kendo. Though he tends to whine after each point and strike against him, he is still capable of putting up a good fight.

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><p>Name: Haruka Yumiko<p>

Nationality: Japanese

Age: 23 Gender: Female

Description:

One of the nurses in the grade school Anna goes to. She is a nurse-in-training who was just recently sent to the school to get experience on being a nurse. As of this moment, nothing much is known about her personality.

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><p>Name: Gab Renard<p>

Nationality: French

Age: 17 Gender: Male

Description:

Senior high school student and member of the science club, he came to Japan when his brother was sent there. Gab was trained by his brother how to shoot, maintain, and use guns effectively. Although no one really knew this secret, he was still known in school for being a very smart and diligent student. His diligence and sense of responsibility actually seemed too high for other students, so they usually joke around and ask him to 'get a life'. Of course, he already had one, but never told anyone. Who would have known that a member of the science club could be a secret marksman with sufficient knowledge in guns, chemicals, and bombs?

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><p>Name: Donn Kisinger<p>

Nationality: American

Age: 23 Gender: Male

Description:

Lieutenant colonel, usually in charge of logistics. Aside from being part of the squad of Gab's brother, not much is known.

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><p>Name: Hitomi Himawari<p>

Nationality: Japanese

Age: 17 Gender: Female

Description:

Senior High school student of Gakuen High and the team leader of the kendo club. As the team leader, she shows genuine care for her team mates, and friends as well. Hitomi grew up like a normal girl would, but after graduating from elementary to middle school, she started to love swordsmanship, and thus became its practitioner ever since. In Gakuen high, she is known for being kind, but a little bit shy out of club activities, while being cool, collected, and merciless during competitions. Although she looks small and frail, her strength can still hold up against bigger opponents, while utilizing her small frame to get in close and deliver clean blows.

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><p>Name: Rin Campbell<p>

Nationality: British/Japanese

Age: 17 Gender: Female

Description:

Senior High school student of Gakuen High and part of the kendo club. As the only daughter of a wealthy family, Rin was a spoiled girl ever since she was little. With all the resources at her disposal, she was able to study in some of the best universities in England, obtain all the material possessions she wanted, and attract a lot of friends. When she was in grade school, however, all of this changed when her father lost interest on her mom and decided to divorce. Because of this, she develops a natural distrust for men. Rin and her mom then move to Japan to continue her studies. As the smart girl of the group, she is very critical and demanding, and can get very frustrated when her expectations are not met. On the other hand, when embarrassed, Rin's smart and hardy exterior totally breaks, revealing her fragile insides.

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><p>Name: Kiyoko Akemi<p>

Nationality: Japanese

Age: 17 Gender: Female

Description:

Senior High school student of Gakuen High and part of the kendo club. She always tries her best to stay cheery, whether alone or with friends. Although she appears to be an innocent girl at first glance, she possesses a perverted and obsessive side. In addition, she shows no bit of concern when she's naked in public and actually likes to flaunt her body and likes to sneak into other people's beds wearing nothing but her birthday suit. She also shows some bisexual tendencies, "swinging both ways" depending on her whims. Rather than fighting zombies, her main role is to give moral support and motivate the group with her carefree and loving (a bit too loving, if you know what I mean) personality.


	2. Phase 1: Chapter 1

**A/N: **Well, first of all, thanks for checking out this story. The story revolves around some martial artists trying to survive in the HOTD universe. For changes, first of all, the setting is still set in the Fujimi High School, only with a few changes, which I will point out further in the story. At the start, some of you may be saddened due to a group with no estrogen in it, but fear not! This is only the beginning! There is a reason why I'm planning to rate this fic 'M'. Although I won't put up any sex scenes, I WILL put up ecchi ones. I don't want to spoil anyone, but if you want to ask about the plot, feel free to send me an im or review. **I DO NOT OWN HOTD, OR ANY OF THE COPYRIGHTED STUFF I MAY INCLUDE IN HERE**. I did include (or am planning to) some concepts from games like dead rising 2, or the zombie survival guide and world war z by Max Brooks(epic guy). I made the OC's of this fic to resemble some real life people (classmates + family), so if you have any complaints as to their character, please don't flame me. I didn't raise them. Anyways, thanks to my friends for beta reading this fic (so far). I don't think they have fanfic accounts(one forgot his), but if they want me to put their real names here, I will. Now, without further ado and random rantings: Welcome to the Empire of the Rising DEAD!

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><p><em>Everywhere… there's chaos. Buildings are burning, people are running. What happened? As I look to my left, two males are fighting on the ground. The first one, struggling to keep the other away from him, the other, desperately trying to get closer to the first one, with his mouth opening and closing systematically… as if it were trying to… bite the guy? Nah… can't be.<em>

"_Help me!" a sudden scream from my right caught my attention. This time, there was a girl running away from a group of people… god they look drunk._

_I look back to my left, to where the two males were fighting. What now remained from the fight was the figure of the second male crouched over the unmoving body of the first one, his back facing me. Did the first guy die? The second one seems to be shuddering in what I could make out as sorrow… I guess he's crying._

_I start walking towards the two, I notice more and more people around me. Was there some party recently? They all look drunk and messed up. Finally, I reach the two guys and tap the second guy's shoulder "Hey dude, are you alright? What happened?"_

_Slowly, he turns to face me. His eyes look as if they've lost all the color and detail a normal human would have; his mouth dirty and splattered with… blood? As I slowly back up and move away, he stands up and turns toward me. _

_I look at the body of the first guy, only to see a bloody hole where his stomach should be, and outside it, his intestines were scattered around and looked chewed up. "…what the hell?" I mutter to myself as the scene reminded me of something eerily familiar. What was that again?_

_Before I could think of anything else, the body of the first guy sat up, more of his guts falling out. "Oh yeah… zombies." Wait. If these two are zombies, then that means the others ar— _

_A cold hand grabs my shoulder, and before I could do anything, I feel pain coursing through it as teeth sink into my flesh and promptly rip it off._

"_AAAAhhh!" I scream at the top of my lungs while falling to my knees. As I look at my attacker, I'm greeted by a guy with half his face rotting off, and behind him, about a dozen people who have similar defects. "Wake up…" the zombie seemed to have spoken to me. Before I can even comprehend what just happened, it slaps me across the cheek._

"WAKE UP DUDE!" Reo's eyes snap open to see a familiar face. "Dude, what happened? You were mumbling something, then you suddenly fell from your seat." Jac, a great friend of his says. "I had to slap you to wake you up. Be glad I didn't do anything else."

"He's right dude, I mean, sure you can sleep on the bus, but randomly falling from your seat is just weird." Another friend, Franz says.

"Okay, so are we there yet?" Reo asks, getting back to his seat. _'Well that was a crappy dream.'_

"No, traffic's lasted for quite some time now"

There's this huge martial arts exhibition in the city, the organizers designed the event to hold separate fights for guys and girls. For the order of the fights, they decided to solve it with a simple game of rock, paper, scissors between a random male and female staff member.

Apparently, since the guy won, the first few days would be spent for the male tournament. In Fujimi High, the principal decided to send a handful of their best martial artists to represent the school. Although most of them are exchange students, they've been in Japan long enough to actually speak, understand, write, and read the language. The group consists mainly of eleven combatants who specialize in different fields such as hand-to-hand combat and kendo. In hand-to-hand combat, there's Jac, Bryan, Franz, Alvin, Mat, and Richard. They specialize in hand-to-hand techniques, but their styles differ. As for the kendo practitioners, there's JC, Robbie, Ramon, Justin (though everyone calls him JDog, just to piss him off), and the appointed leader for the event, Reo.

The group left the school as early as 7:30 just to reach the stadium in time, but seeing that they aren't there yet, Reo checks his watch and audibly curses "It's already ten-friggin' thirty?"

"Yeah, we were all supposed to play slapjack going there, but you went ahead and slept on us. Mr. Team Captain." Franz pokes Reo's cheek with one finger. "Well, you missed out on the fun, so sucks to be you dude."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that" Reo leans back and stretches his arms to relieve himself of some of the sleepiness he just got out of. "So Robbie," Reo calls out to the front, "how are things going out there?"

"Nothing much, people look pissed, but that doesn't make things any better, I mean, look at that." Robbie points out the window. "People are leaving their cars to see what's up."

True enough, there were some people getting out of their vehicles, and shouting on how late they were for a meeting or an event, some people were asking other drivers if they knew what was happening up the road, but most of them were just swearing and cursing randomly. "Hey guys, look over there." Robbie's brother, Bryan, points to a person.

Everyone looked out his side of the bus to see a man wobbling and staggering forward. "Whoa dude, is he drunk?" Justin asks. "Wow, gee, you think he isn't?" His seatmate, Ramon replies, taking off one of his earphones. "How can he be not drunk? Just look at him. They way he walks isn't how a sober guy does."

"Well, yeah, but what if—"

"Oh, wow, what kind of conspiracy are you thinking of now? Oh wait, let me guess, that dude stumbled on some sort of secret government document and survived an attempt on his life? Or maybe—" Ramon's rant was cut short by a blood curdling scream from outside.

The man in question started biting a nearby office woman's neck. For a few seconds, everyone in the vicinity seemed to be frozen in shock, but a few guys soon rushed to them and pulled the mysterious guy off the girl. The mysterious guy immediately started to struggle and overpower the men that pulled him, so more people eventually rushed to help restrain him. Another man, who seemed to know what he was doing, started to plug the bitten and bleeding area of the office woman with his shirt. He then started yelling at others, telling them to call for an ambulance.

The office woman started to violently cough out blood, then stayed still. The man who was plugging the office woman's wound then started to check for signs of breathing. When he found none, he started to try reviving the woman by using methods like CPR. After a few tries, he checked for any sign of breathing, only to have his neck bitten by the person he tried to save.

As if on cue, more screams could be heard in every direction. People started to panic, leaving their cars and running in a direction they thought was safe, only to run into more people like the mysterious man, and their painful death. Others tried to stay in the safety of their cars, but the constant pounding of some crazed people were able to break the windows and claim a free meal. Some tried to save their loved ones, while others left their loved ones to save themselves. One word could have summarized what was happening: Chaos.

Breaking the curse of silence and shock, Ramon continues in a soft voice

"—it's a zombie apocalypse."

For a few more seconds, nothing was said. Everyone in the bus was just staring blankly at what had now turned into a massacre. Men, women, children, the elderly, no one was spared from the "zombies".

After watching a few more seconds, Mat started to vomit on the floor. Soon after that, about three more people followed his example. "That doesn't look like fun." Mat states, wiping off puke from his mouth. "Are you kidding?" Bryan turns to face him, "This is a zombie apocalypse! This should be really exciting… so long as you're not bitten, that is."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Aren't you scared of this?" Mat points to the chaos outside. "We're all gonna friggin' die man."

"No we're not." Reo half shouts, anger dripping from his words, "It's that way of thinking that'll get you killed." Changing back into a more calm, but assertive tone, he starts to reach for his bag, which contained all his gear. "We should get ready to leave this bus. If we don't, we'd end up as tinned food for those… zombies."

"Yeah, he's right." Bryan agrees. "What's the plan?"

"Let's pack up first then head for the rooftops. I don't think these zombies can climb ladders." Reo takes out his kendo mitts, but puts them back, opting to wear fingerless leather gloves instead.

Richard, upon seeing this asks, "Hey dude, won't those be less useful? Kendo mitts provide more coverage."

"Yeah, but they're big and stuffy. Might hinder me later on, and I haven't really washed them."

"Shit! Some of them know we're here!" Bryan says, looking out the window. True enough, after a second or two, zombies started to bang on the door and the sides of the bus.

"Okaay, I don't think we'll be able to leave that way anymore." Justin states as he picks up his bag and zips it shut. Upon hearing this, Ramon sighs and lightly slaps his forehead. "Dude, just shut up."

"Anyways," Reo says, making his way to the back of the bus. "We can use the side door and jump down. Stay close to each other, there's a fire escape on the other side of the street. Once we get to the top, let's think of what to do next. Ready?" he reaches for the handle, looking back to see everyone silently nod their heads in approval while holding whatever they could use as weapons with them. The kendo practitioners had their wooden swords, while others wrapped their fists in bandages and cloth. "Let's go!"

Reo jumps down and rushes to the nearest zombie and delivers an overhead slash to its head. There was a sickening crack as its skull broke open, but it was still standing. "I guess hoping for one hit kills with a wooden sword is too much eh?" he mutters to himself as he started to hit the undead with his wooden sword again.

After three hits, someone screams from behind. "Driver's a goner, just leave him!" Mat jumps down and closes the side door. _'How evil, but I guess it can't be helped.'_

"Let's move! Don't bother killing them; just push them back so we don't get swarmed!" Reo shouts to the group, leading them to the fire escape. Just getting there was already hard, as there were still civilians running away in panic, also not to mention the threat of the zombies in the way. "Try not to get separated!" Reo pushes back another zombie to the side as the group moves forward.

After a few seconds, Reo first reaches the base of the fire escape. As he starts climbing up, he sees Mat get shoved to the side by a panicking civilian, and falling down. Reo starts to make his way to help him, but Alvin sees this and pats his shoulder "I'll go back for him; we'll meet you guys on the roof."

With that said, Reo starts climbing the ladder as fast as he could. "Dude, hurry up! They're starting to pile up over here." Robbie shouts, as he starts climbing up as well. Reo hurries up even more, and eventually gets to the top. He looks down from the side and sees Mat and Alvin trying to get to the ladder, but notices that karma is finally getting back at Mat for all those stupid things he's done, like not doing homework, or peeping in the girls shower. Apparently, He and Alvin are surrounded by at least two dozen zombies.

"S-shit dude, we're surrounded!" Mat stutters. "I don't wanna die…"

"I can't believe it…" Alvin whispers as he and Mat start to back up. Mat stumbles and falls on his ass. "I don't wanna die…"

"Fuck this, dude, if I die, I'm bringing down as many of these bastards." Alvin picks up a plank of wood which was lying nearby. "…Fuck this…" With a roar, he rushes to a nearby zombie and slams the plank of wood on its head. Due to the mere strength of the swing, the zombie fell down, but didn't get back up. Not wasting another moment, Alvin started to bash at the zombie heads with his mighty plank of wood. More and more kept falling, while only a small handful got back up.

As Alvin was raging and killing zombies, Mat just kept backing up. "I don't wanna die…" Mat's back eventually hit something. He looks up and sees a zombie staring back at him with lifeless eyes. "I don't wanna die…" Moments later, the only things that came out of his mouth were blood curdling screams and gushing blood.

Alvin was actually doing great. His sense of survival flared to the max. It was only after Mat's scream that he did something completely stupid. He looked in its direction, to see Mat being cannibalized by a group of at least five zombies. His mouth locked in an eternal scream of pain. As he looked back to what he was doing, the only thing he saw was a mouth, which soon took a chunk off of his neck.

Pain. That was the only thing he thought of at the moment. He wanted to scream so badly, but he couldn't, as his vocal chords were just ripped off. Soon, he started to see the clichéd scenes of his life pass before him, as well as more mouths, which soon took more chunks of his flesh.

Back at the rooftop, almost everyone was on the ladder going up. The ones at the bottom were scrambling to get up, as the zombies started to get nearer by the second. As the last to reach for the ladder, Richard started to climb up. He was already on the fifth bar, when a zombie suddenly grabbed his ankle. "Fuck! It's trying to pull me down!" Eventually, a few more zombies started to reach up as well, trying to make sure their prey doesn't escape.

Hearing the shout, the person above him, Jac, tried to reach for his arm with one hand, while firmly gripping the ladder on his other one. "Dude, try to kick them off and reach for my hand! I'll help pull you up!"

Richard struggles to kick the zombies to no avail, their grip too powerful to break. Seeing no other alternative, he instead focuses on reaching for Jac's hand and climbing up. "Their grip's too strong dude!" With one great heave, he lunges for Jac's hand, and holds it firmly, as if his life depended on it. "Got it!"

Jac then acknowledges by attempting to pull him up, hoping to save his teammate. It was actually working, "It's working!" Richard also used his other hand to pull himself up, until he felt teeth sink into his left ankle. "AAahh!" His grip weakened for that moment, but that was all it took for a group of ravenous zombies to pull him down. Soon after he was pulled down, the zombies wasted no time in devouring their next meal.

Jac, still holding onto Richard's kendo mitt, let out a curse, then climbed up. As he reached the top, he angrily threw the mitt at the floor. "Fuck! What the hell man? I was already pulling him up!" Jac cursed again, then sat down near the group. "Now what?"

"Well, we should plan our goals first." Reo suggests, sitting down as well.

"Yeah," Bryan agrees. "We should also be more careful, if not, we'll die just like Mat, Alvin, and—"

"Don't relate us to them!" Justin interjects. "It's their own carelessness that killed them. Mat broke down, Alvin got distracted, and Richard, well, was probably just unlucky."

"That's why we should take this topic seriously. It's **because** they died that we should talk about ways to be more careful." Reo reaches for his bag and place it in front of him, rummaging through its contents. "First of all, does anyone have a mirror?"

"What the hell man, you just told us to take things seriously. What good would a mi—"

"A mirror," Reo interrupts, glaring at Justin, "Will help us see what's in places without having to stick our necks out to check. If we use one, we'll be able to check corners without much risk."

"…oh. Well, how was I supposed to know?" Justin shrugs.

"First of all, you're probably used to using mirrors to see your own reflection, _fag._" Ramon teases, enjoying as Justin's face contorts in disgust. "Hey!"

For the first time since this apocalypse started, the group laughed. In these few moments, we all forgot about the death and decay, about the zombies, it was just as if it never happened. Soon though, it would stop. And everyone would have to get serious. Because if not… bad things would happen.

As the laughter stopped, Reo clasped his hands and got down to business. "Okay, so seriously speaking, let's finalize some rules and formations. Anyone want to start? If not, I will."

"Yeah, actually, I have a suggestion." All of us look at JC, who was raising his hand. "As for the formations, why don't we use the ones used by special ops people. You know… like in games, where there's someone at the front… you get it right?"

"Well, yeah." Bryan agrees, nodding his head in an approving manner. "We could use the point person, two flanks, and one rear formation. But since there are eight of us left, we could adjust that."

"Okay, so anyone want a specific role or spot?" Reo asks no one in particular.

"Hey, I wanna be point!" Jac immediately says.

After a while, the formations were set. Jac and Reo would be on point, Ramon and Justin on the right flank, Bryan and Robbie on the left flank, and finally, JC and Franz at the rear. Basically Jac and Reo would be the tip of the spear. They'd be the ones leading the way, as well as attacking enemies in the way. The flanks would mostly be the supports and clean-up, while the rear would protect the group from zombies that come from behind.

"What about the RoE? What are our rules on that?" Robbie asks.

"Well, since our current equipment isn't really for bashing skulls in, I'd suggest knocking them back, if we're moving, but if necessary, you might need to hit the head multiple times for a kill." Reo pauses, thinking about his next statement. "I saw from how Alvin fought, that something as simple as a plank of wood can kill. But technically, he just hit with it really hard. If a random plank of wood can kill, I'm pretty sure that a wooden sword would be more effective. Though, that's just what I think."

"Wait, what about us?" Franz looks at the rest of the hand-to-hand combatants, then back at Reo. "I don't think bare hands can crack a skull. Well, if you're really buff, I guess you could…"

"Good point. You guys should find something… like an iron pipe— just improvise for now. Hopefully, we'll get better weapons later on. Anyway, moving to the next topic, what are our goals?"

"Survive?" JC suggests.

"Well, that's obvious. I was thinking like, a place we can go to, or something." Reo replies, fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Well, how about the school? Let's see if the other guys barricaded themselves inside. We can also use the school as some kind of fort. It has concrete walls and an iron gate." Bryan stands up, and looks at the street below. "Though, I suggest that we wait for the crowd to clear up a bit…"

True enough; the zombies were still crowded around the ladder, still feasting on Richard's corpse. The zombies on the street though, were starting to move deeper into the city, as they were attracted by the screams and commotion coming from that direction.

"Okay… I say we make our way to the school, while looking for family members close by, and weapons. Is everyone fine with that?" Reo asks, looking back to the group.

Choruses of yeses come from them. "Then we're set! …After we wait for the crowd to clear."

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><p>After about ten minutes, the group of zombies near the ladder was mostly gone, with only one or two remaining. "Let's move, but be quiet." Reo says as he picks up his gear and moves down the ladder.<p>

Reaching the bottom, he passes by the remains of a friend they all used to call Richard. His body was mutilated, his stomach torn open with half his guts eaten while the other half was scattered outside his body, hell, even his face was bitten up. As the rest of the group get down, everyone says a short prayer and continue moving through the alleyways.

Just as discussed, Jac and Reo were on point, leading the group. The zombies encountered were few in number, and mostly alone. When encountering a lone zombie, Jac would usually kick it so it would fall, while Reo moves up and bashes its skull with his weapon. Usually, it's best to kill them so they wouldn't follow from behind and attract more zombies.

As the group reached the street, the scene in front was very welcoming. Gladwasp, a fast food restaurant that looked untouched, stood there right in front of us in all its glory.

Upon seeing this, the group looked amongst themselves. "Well, we haven't eaten lunch yet…" JC comments as everyone enters. Aside from the leftover food on some tables, there wasn't any blood at all. Not on the floor, the tables, the counter, …nothing.

"First things first, check for zombies or survivors. Two people a group, move." Reo commands and looks at Jac. "Let's check the manager's office."

"Let's eat!" Since the restaurant was a small one, we were able to check every corner of it. No one was here, so they probably left with everyone else they saw running.

Ever since the bus ride, everyone was already hungry, having eaten breakfast only. It was already nearing lunch time, and an opportunity like this won't happen again, so the group ate whatever they could, after finishing, Bryan suggested that everyone bring some food with them to eat later on.

"That was great!" Franz says as he finishes the drink he brought out. "Eating in a fast food restaurant without paying feels weird though."

"Yeah," Reo agrees as he starts walking again. "Let's move!"

Once again, the group starts moving, this time opting to stick to the sidewalks while trying to avoid contact with the zombies instead of taking unfamiliar alleys.

After walking a few blocks down the road, Reo stops walking, signaling the others to wait.

Quietly moving to the corner of the street, he sticks the mirror out and looks at the street, to see something very disturbing. Reo silently curses and moves back to the group.

"What'd you see?" Jac asks as Reo returns.

"Zombies. The whole street is flooding with them. We won't be able to use that way anymore."

While everyone silently curses, Ramon looks at the surrounding structures and notices a large warehouse near the street with the zombies.

"Hey, do you think that warehouse extends to the other street?" He asks, pointing at said warehouse. "We might be able to pass through if we're quiet enough."

"Well, it's worth a try." Robbie shrugs. "There might even be weapons."

"Then let's go!" Reo and Jac make their way towards the warehouse gate and push open one side of it with a small creak. Noticing nothing too dangerous, ie. Zombies, Reo motions towards the group to go in. "It looks clear."

Inside, the group looked all around them to see nothing more than skyscrapers of crates. Apparently, when the panic hit, the workers must have left whatever they were doing and just ran for it. Thankfully, no shuffling sounds or moans could be heard, but still, everyone kept their guard up, just in case something unexpected were to happen.

"Hey guys," Bryan snaps his fingers to get everyone's attention, then points to his left. "Look over there"

On top of a lone crate, one of the most magnificent tools you could ever hope for was lying down in all its splendor. The crowbar; it can kill zombies, open doors and other things, and… it was also a weapon of Gordon Freeman. Though they weren't fighting aliens, zombies weren't so different— their heads still crack open if hit by it.

"So... who gets it?" Bryan asks.

"Well, you found it, so it's rightfully yours. Unless you don't want it." Ramon quickly adds in. "Besides, there should be more… right?"

True enough, the warehouse contained two more crowbars, both of them found in the vicinity. "These should go to Franz and Jac," Reo said, tossing both to them. "Hand-to-hand combat is too risky in this situation."

"Why don't you guys open the crates?" Justin asks out of pure curiosity. "Who knows, maybe this warehouse is actually a mafia hideout where they store lots of illegal guns!"

The group just stared at him.

"I bet he's wrong." Ramon says, raising his hand.

"Same." Soon after, Justin's suggestion became some sort of bet. If he were wrong, everyone who bets against him has to follow one order each. If he were right, everyone gets to give him one order each. Anyways, it's not like he _won't_ win with the odds of seven-to-one… right?

"Then it's settled. We'll open one crate each. If by some miracle you're right, which by the way, you're probably not, at least we'll have guns." Ramon says, sticking a crowbar he borrowed from Bryan into the lid of a crate. With a great heave, he was able to lift the lid just enough to look inside to see… FM radios. A lot of FM radios, stacked neatly together.

"Hmm, this doesn't look like an illegal weapon, now does it?" Ramon smirks as he crosses his arms.

Five minutes and a crestfallen Justin later, the group opened a total of eight crates, each of them holding either random decorations, or useless radios. "You know, the sign on the Warehouse did say that it was a furniture and décor shipping warehouse…" Robbie comments, grinning as he sees Justin's face go wide with an expression that said 'WHAT?'

"Anyways, we've been here too long. Let's move!" Reo makes his way to the back door and opens it, making Jac puke on the spot shortly after.

Upon seeing their comrade puke just like that, everyone rushed to him before looking at the sight outside. Carnage. Another damned word that was sufficient enough to explain the sight on the street. The only vehicle there was an overturned truck, behind it were trails of blood and squashed bodies, which tuned out to be pre-school students. If they were the usual kind of corpses like the others littered around, nobody would be so disturbed. But these were extra deformed. The truck must have lost control and crashed, mowing down the young students before they had a chance to get out of the way. The sight was similar to road kill, but far more gruesome.

"That's right," The group brought back their eyes onto their leader. "You have a little sister here, right Jac?"

"Dude," Jac stands up, wiping the puke off of his mouth. "Can we look for her? I think her school is nearby."

Reo eyes Jac, then the rest of the group. "Do you have to ask?" Reo grins as he pats Jac's shoulder. "Then let's pick up the pace."

The group moves across the deserted street, while keeping their eyes peeled for any kind of threat. After a few minutes of walking, Bryan starts to snicker. Curious, everyone stops and wonders if he's lost it. "…bro?" Robbie asks.

"Our luck today is off the cha—" Robbie cuts him off as he hisses in Bryan's ear. _"SHUT UP!"_

Nodding, Bryan points to one of the shops on the side of the road. Following his finger, everyone stares at what looks like a three story building next to a chain of apartments.

Squinting his eyes further, Reo starts chuckling as well, getting confused looks from everyone. "Is there some kind of joke that I'm missing?" Franz asks, hoping to find an answer.

"Guys, we've hit the jackpot…" Reo and Bryan start jogging to the said building, their grins getting bigger. "…A hardware store."

The group, not wanting to be left behind, started to jog towards the building as well, to see a hardware store on the second floor. The stairs going up were located on the outside, so they didn't need to bother with looking. Half-way up, JC stops and calls out to the group, "Hey guys, shouldn't we block this part so that zombies won't get up?"

"Dude, there's no one on the street!" Justin points out. "It's not like zombies just appear all of a sudden."

Feeling a grumbling feeling at the back of his stomach, JC grudgingly agrees and continues to enter the store. Meanwhile, the sudden outburst of Bryan and Justin a while ago didn't just attract the attention of their group mates…


	3. Phase 1: Chapter 2

**A/N: **Chapter 2 is finally here! I can't really say a specific schedule that i'd follow for updates, but i will post a chapter every time i finish 5,000 words. I also updated the profiles page, so you might want to check that out after you read this chapter. Anyways, **I DO NOT OWN HOTD, OR ANYTHING HERE THAT IS COPYRIGHTED.** nuff said, enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Are you serious?" Justin manages to say as he sees Reo take out the screw of a pair of garden shears.<p>

"Improvised dual blades!" Reo smirks as he holds the now separated pair of garden shears like dual blades and slashes at the air a few times before turning to look back at Justin "At times like these, you should try to be more… creative."

Hearing this, devilish plans for weapons started to unwind in the rest of the group's mind. Jac, Franz, and Ramon, immediately having thought of something, lets out a demonic smile and looks for the necessary materials to form their newly-thought weapon.

Reo, satisfied with his pair of garde— dual blades, decides to check out the rest of the store for anything worth bringing. After passing by the section for light bulbs, Reo stops, grins, then runs off to find Bryan.

The teen in question was currently looking at a screwdriver and seemed to be in deep thought, before Reo called out his name and beckoned him to follow. Reluctantly, Bryan stuffs the screwdriver in his bag and follows after Reo.

"Think you can use this?" Reo points to a nail gun, his grin widening as Bryan picks it up.

"It's gas powered…" Bryan mumbles to himself. "Nails shouldn't be a problem… Gas, still a lot here… but aiming might be a problem…"

Quickly moving across shelves and sections, Bryan grabs some plywood, a saw, duct tape, and a small knife. He then moves to the manager's office and cuts up a portion of the sofa. Later on, after minutes of work, he finishes making what looks like a stock, and attaches it to the nail gun.

"Heh, our first ranged weapon!" Bryan puts his custom "BL-03X" nail gun near his bag, while packing additional nails, and gas canisters.

"Well, you're not the only one with a cool weapon here!" Reo and Bryan look back and see the whole group with custom weapons, each of them looking intimidating.

"Heh. Behold! The aweso—" Jac's introduction was cut short by the sound of the welcome bell ringing, followed by the all too familiar moans of the undead.

Back at the front of the store, there were two zombies that fell on top of each other after opening the front doors, which inconveniently needed to be pushed inwards to be opened.

"Enough with the intros, let the weapons do the talking" Reo says as he takes out his dual garden shears and stabs through the forehead of one of the floored zombies that first entered. "Let's move back to the rooftops!"

After the group ran out the door of the hardware store, they were pressed with a big problem: the path leading to the rooftop was blocked by at least two dozen zombies.

"Where the hell did these guys come from?" Justin complains as he holds his new weapon, a fire axe close to him.

"See? I had a feeling this would happen. But nooo, you just **had** to disagree." JC rolls his eyes then glares at Justin.

"I don't wanna break it to you guys, but that way's the only exit." Bryan says as he points in the direction of the horde of ravenous creatures that were inching towards them.

"Then it's settled." Reo says, gripping his garden shears tightly. "We fight."

As soon as he said that, Reo dashes to the nearest zombie and thrusts both of his garden shears into its neck, then slashes outward, effectively decapitating the zombie, and calling first blood.

Not wanting to be left out of the action, the others started to race forward to battle the undead as well. Jac used his custom weapon, two fire axes connected to a sledge hammer, to bash in the head of one zombie, before turning around and delivering a powerful upswing to another zombie's head using the side with a fire axe, severing it and making it fly backwards.

To his left, Franz was also testing out his new custom weapon, a sawed off mop with the blade of a garden shear fastened to the tip in the form of a glaive. Since he was fighting in close quarters, Franz settled with spear thrusts instead of wide swings, so he wouldn't hurt any of his group. Franz was on his second kill, when an unseen zombie gripped his shoulder and pulled him closer to its mouth. As he was caught by surprise, he wasn't in a good stance to shake his attacker off, and instinctively closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable… which never came. Curious, Franz opened his eyes to see the zombie slump to the ground, a nail embedded into its forehead.

"Don't just stand there!" Bryan says, firing another nail into another zombie's forehead. Then looks back at Franz, a smirk on his lips "Oh, and you owe me a twinkie for saving your ass."

"Thanks dude, remind me later, I don't eat twinkies anyway. They make you fat." Franz jokes as he stabs another zombie in its mouth then kicks it away.

"By the way," Bryan shoots another zombie in the forehead. "If you're using one blade of a garden shear, where's the other?"

"Oh," Franz smiles sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. "Well actually…"

Actually, the other half was tearing through the neck of a zombie. "Of all times," Ramon whines as he steps back to avoid a lunge from a nearby zombie, before counter-attacking with his weapon: an improvised axe made of a blade of a garden shear welded to a crowbar. "Why did Jac take both the axes for himself?"

**A few minutes earlier…**

"_Hey dude, do you know where all the fire axes went?" Ramon asks Justin while still searching the shop._

"_Fire axes? Well, ask Jac. He's using two of them, so he might know if there are others. I found this one by the manager's office." Justin replies, raising his fire axe so Ramon could see it._

"…_But there were only three fire axe containers…" Ramon mumbles to himself. Since they were making custom weapons from the stuff in the store, he decided to go with a fire axe since it's already somewhat of a weapon. Of course, he could just use the crowbar, but he wanted something a bit more powerful. _

_After walking down a few aisles, he found Jac standing beside a table, furiously working on something. Ramon walks next to him and sees him attaching two fire axes to a sledge hammer using some door hinges, bolts, and duct tape._

"_Hey dude," Ramon calls Jac's attention. He stops working for a while and turns his head to face him, signifying that he was listening. "Do you need both of the fire axes? You and Justin are using all three."_

"_Well, I already put mine on the sledge hammer, so if you want it, how about a game of rock, paper, scissors? I'm too lazy to take it out again." Jac says, raising his fist and smirking. "Best two out of three?"_

_Ramon sighs before raising his fist as well. "Sure"_

_Jac and Ramon both enter a stance and their eyes lock contact._

_**Rock, Paper, Scissors! **_

_Jac brings out the crushing power of the rock, while Ramon made a fatal mistake and chose the cutting power of the scissors, which was no match for the sheer hardness of the rock._

_Jac – 1 Ramon – 0_

_**Rock, Paper, Scissors!**_

_This time, Ramon decided to keep the power of the scissors in play hoping to trick Jac into changing his hand, which actually worked! Jac had thought that Ramon would surely use rock, but it would seem that he has miscalculated._

_Jac – 1 Ramon – 1_

_Jac and Ramon realize that the next match will decide the victor. They both stare into each other's eyes, trying to anticipate their opponent's next move. As they were just locked in that seemingly endless showdown, a trickle of sweat dropped from their faces. As it hit the floor, their eyes sparkled for a moment, before resuming their epic fight._

_**Rock, Paper, Scissors!**_

_At that moment, one of the light bulbs overhead flickered, and when it turned back on, the victor has been chosen, the battle has ended, and the one left standing… was Jac, with the unyielding power of the rock. Ramon was just standing there, with a shocked expression on his face. How could the ultimate scissors have lost? It was unacceptable! _

"_HA! Where's your paper now, huh, where is it!" Jac raised his fist with an unusual look on his face… until he realized that everyone else was looking at him._

"_Dude, what the hell, shut up!" Robbie hissed, his voice oozing with annoyance._

_Embarrassed, but too proud to admit it, Jac immediately turned his head away. "I knew that…" _

_After recovering from that crushing defeat, Ramon decided to accept his loss, "Fine, I loose, but can you at least help me make a decent weapon?"_

_**End of Flashback**_

"Oh yeah…" Ramon shakes his head, desperately trying to shake away that embarrassing defeat. "Well, at least this is still effective."

"Well, it looks decent, I guess." JC says after he watches Ramon deliver a brutal upswing to a zombie, effectively splitting its skull in two and throwing brain bits across the hall.

"But I like this weapon combo better." JC smirks as he bashes the left-side temple of a zombie's head using one hand with a crowbar they got in the warehouse. He then turns his body and using a reverse grip, plunges half the blade of a garden shear into the eye socket of a nearby zombie, which he swiftly retracts. Then, in one smooth motion, he performs a sweep kick to knock down another zombie with his right leg, followed by an axe kick that crushed its skull.

Not before long, the group already reached the stairs. It was a good thing though, that the zombies were only coming from below, meaning that the path going up was home-free, or rather, zombie-free.

"Go! Go! Go!" Reo stood at the base of the stairs, beckoning his friends to hurry up, while at the same time, decapitating another zombie with his garden shears.

Justin and Robbie, being the furthest away from the group, started to panic. They didn't want to turn out like Mat and Alvin did.

Robbie then looks at Justin after striking down a zombie using his crowbar. "I don't know about you, but I sure as hell am going to plow through these lumps of dead meat."

Justin, being the kind of person he always is, looks back at Robbie and whines, "But there are a lot of them!"

Robbie stops, and shoots Justin a look that said 'Are you serious?' before bringing his attention back to the ongoing fight. "Then go die! See if I care. I'm gonna live man."

Justin doesn't say anything else, but decides to go along with Robbie, seeing that there's nothing better to do.

Robbie first rushes forward and delivers an overhead swing to the first zombie he encounters. The zombie's head caves in, and the brain is crushed with it. On his left, Justin follows suit, and bashes a zombie in the head, giving the same result. After a few more strikes and bashes, they eventually reach the group and run up the stairs.

As the group reached the third floor, they ran across the hall to the far side, where a ladder to the roof was waiting for them. One-by-one, they all made it up to the roof, safe.

Looking down, they saw that their fighting had actually filled the street… with zombies. Thankfully, zombies didn't know how to climb up ladders, so they were safe. As another blessing, the building they were on was connected to the other buildings in the block, so they would be safe for the time being.

"Let's continue moving. The longer we wait, the less the chance of meeting with living people." Reo says, wiping his garden shears on a towel he picked up in the manager's office, before stashing them on his belt. "We can use the rooftops to safely cross this block."

Later on, while maneuvering through the rooftops, an idea hit Bryan and he asks everyone, "Hey guys, did anyone else bring some useful stuff from the store? I brought a screwdriver, just in case."

Without breaking their current pace, Justin opens his bag and looks inside. "Well, I brought some rope, some padlocks, and some magazines." After enumerating what he brought, Justin looks up and sees the shocked faces of his group mates. "Huh? What?"

Ramon clears his throat and says to him, "Well, I've never thought that you'd have the foresight to bring decent stuff, but I didn't properly hear that last item."

"Oh, I said some magazines."

"…Oh… wait, what?" Ramon double takes and shoots Justin a 'what the fuck?' face. "Dude, do you actually have time to use those in a bathroom? We're in a friggin' zombie apocalypse, and you bring _those_ kinds of magazines?"

Immediately realizing what Ramon was trying to get at, Justin immediately tries to douse the misunderstanding. "Wha? No! I mean, these random magazines we can use for fire." Justin takes out the said magazines and shows them to everyone.

"A Hundred and One Cooking Recipes for Dummies" Franz reads aloud. "Wow, hey man, can I keep this?"

Justin, expecting some sort of sarcastic reply, gets confused at first, then laughs and says, "Yeah, sure. I don't know how to cook anyway."

'_Jesus, you'd never expect that there was a zombie apocalypse happening when traveling with these guys.'_ Reo thinks and face palms. Ever since the start, the only person who actually panicked was Mat, who was killed because of that. Now, as he thinks back, his group mates, while disciplined from martial arts training, actually seem fine— psychologically speaking, of course. He was about to ask the group a question, when they suddenly heard a buzzing sound down in the streets.

Curious, the whole group moves toward the side and looks down, hoping to see what the cause could be.

"Hey, is that guy nuts?" Bryan points to a single male student near the doorway of an open garage. "That's just suicide!"

The guy in question was starting up a chainsaw, a deranged look clearly seen on his face. One of the nearby zombies heard the sound of the chainsaw and started to head towards its direction.

"You bastards…" The guy was finally able to start the chainsaw. When it _did_ start, it let out a deafening roar of motor, gear, and blade working in unison. "I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!" The guy suddenly ran towards a nearby zombie and slashed it from the shoulder down.

"HOW DARE YOU KILL MY FAMILY!" With a mighty roar, the angered guy ran with blind rage into the horde of zombies on the street.

Upon contact with another zombie, he slices its head off, and goes berserk. He then continues to run forward, swinging the chainsaw like a maniac. Sometimes he hits something, other times he doesn't. After a good thirty seconds, he makes a more fatal mistake; a swing with recoil he couldn't control. As he recovered from that, he finally noticed that he was in the middle of the street.

"Why… they were the nicest people…" His eyes then started to shed even more tears. Not before long, he continued his frenzy, but was stopped by a hand… that didn't belong to the living. The guy panicked and started to thrash wildly, slicing of the arm but not realizing that all the zombies on the street were headed to his particular direction. Eventually, his arms started to get heavy from all the mindless swinging and thrashing, his legs got tired from running around, and his mind got tired of seeing things in a logical manner. All its functions centered on one question: why?

As he sliced another zombie in two, three more would take its place. The cycle continued as he kept slicing and slicing, also not realizing that he was now completely surrounded by a dense forest of zombies. The guy didn't seem to care though, so long as he had his chainsaw, he was invincible. For a while, that thought was very welcome, though the gas said otherwise and made the chainsaw start sputtering as it was slicing through the guts of an unfortunate zombie. Seeing this, the guy's eyes widened as he frantically tried to pull out his prized weapon.

Before he could do so, the very zombie he was trying to saw in half pulled him closer and bit his ear off. Recoiling in pain, he backed up while holding the stump of his ear until his back hit a zombie. He looked around for a weapon that he could use, any would be fine. All he could see though, was a vast sea of undead, arms extended towards their next meal. He tried to fight them off with his hands and feet, but all he was doing was struggling in a spider's web. Nothing he did was able to help his situation. His last thought, before turning into a human happy meal was still 'Why?'

Back on the rooftop, Bryan just shook his head and looked away, not wanting his lunch to escape his stomach. "That was the stupidest thing anyone could do. Chainsaws are noisy, heavy, and need gas."

"True, and using it alone is more stupid." Unlike Bryan, Reo continues to watch as the zombies start fighting over what looked like an arm. "Anyways…" Reo points to Robbie, who was sitting down, back against the wall.

"Don't feel like watching?"

"Dude, as much as possible, I'd like to stay away from the gross things. I'm fine with fighting, but that passes the line."

"Well, we better start mo—" Before Reo could continue, he was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. "Wow, who's the idiot stupid enough to do that?"

Almost immediately, they hear a man's voice shouting, "Get Back!" from further down the road. Rushing towards the direction it came from, everyone looked down and saw four people, two policemen, a woman, and a little girl, their backs against the building's wall.

Upon seeing the little girl, Jac's eyes widened before he shouted "Anna! Is that you?"

The little girl looked up, and a small sparkle of hope danced in her eyes, "Onii-chan!"

Jac, after confirming that the little girl down there really _was_ her sister, ran to Justin and started opening his bag.

"Dude, what gives?" Justin asks, obviously not getting what just happened.

Before Jac could say anything, Reo started, "Bryan, can those nails kill from this height?"

Bryan quickly looks down then back to Reo, and shakes his head. "Sorry dude, this is just a nail gun."

"Then change of plan. Jac and I will go down using the rope. You guys stay here and get ready to pull us up." Without a moment's expense, Reo grabbed one of the ropes, tied it around one of the exhaust pipes nearby, and threw the rope down. "Jac, let's go! Oh, and Justin, I'll be borrowing your fire axe."

Before Justin could start complaining, Reo started grab the rope and rappel down. Shortly after, Jac followed suit on the other rope.

At the bottom, one of the policemen was grabbed by a zombie and bitten in the neck. Upon noticing his partner's demise, the other policeman cursed out loud and continued firing into the sea of undead, hoping to stall what seemed to be the inevitable.

"Onii-chan!" Anna ran towards Jac and hugged him tight, tears freely flowing into her brother's shirt. "E-everyone in my class is dead!"

"Anna, I want you to grab onto the rope so my friends can pull you up." Jac hugged his sister one more time before bringing her to the rope he rappelled on, immediately wrapping it around her so she wouldn't fall. "Pull her up!"

Back on the roof, Bryan, Robbie, and Franz saw and heard what Jac did, and started to pull on the rope, so that his sister would be safe.

Meanwhile, Reo also told the woman to follow suit, and that he would just wait until the rope is thrown back down. Reluctantly, the woman did as she was told, and was also pulled up by the remaining three group mates.

"Uhmm, excuse me officer, but we'll have to wait for the next rope to come down." Reo explained to the remaining policeman, decapitating a zombie while he's at it. "We'll have to survive until that time."

"Hehe, sure." The policeman shot another zombie in the face, before stepping back to reload his standard issue S&W m-37 revolver. "By the way, I'm Officer Stefano… gah, just call me Stef. You're the leader?"

"Well, I guess so." Reo replies, bashing a zombie with a vertical strike. "Anyways, we need to get serious here."

Reo takes a step forward and bashes a zombie's temple, instantly destroying its brain. He then performs a follow-up upswing to a zombie on his right, then spins and decapitates another zombie. After stepping back to make sure he doesn't get grabbed by the zombies, Reo performs a forward kick, making a zombie fall on other zombies, to hinder their movement. Just before he was about to rush forward again and bash a zombie's head in, it was hit first… by another head. Stepping back and smirking, Reo chuckles a bit, "You must be pissed, eh?"

Back with Jac, 'pissed' couldn't even explain what he was feeling. He was on a warpath. Zombies that dared to threaten his sister? He wouldn't take any of that crap, he'd rather die than let that happen. Jac rushed towards a small group of zombies and started going crazy. Every time he finished bashing one of their heads in, he would immediately raise it up to bash another head. Although his weapon was very heavy, thus making a fight very tiring, he kept bashing heads in, with the occasional upswing. Even though his muscles were getting tired, he still continued to kill.

Just when the zombies gathered even more, Bryan popped his head out and shouted. "Reo! We're sending back the ropes!"

"You heard him! Stef, Jac, let's go!" Reo shouted before making his way to the first rope. Both he and Jac were already climbing the ropes when they heard a cry of pain behind them.

Apparently, Stef was busy shooting and didn't hear the call for retreat. When he noticed, he was already too late, a zombie from the right snuck up on him and bit into his shoulder. As he watched his flesh get ripped off, he was tackled by more zombies and was sent to the ground.

"Reo!" Stef shouted, trying to endure a few zombie bites. "Shoot me!" He threw his gun at Reo, who caught it.

'_Kill him?'_ Reo was torn. He had been killing zombies, but he consoled himself with the reason being that they were already dead. Now was different; he would be killing a real, living person. He didn't want to become a murderer, even if it was just a mercy kill.

'_**do it.'**_

A voice in his head whispered. But he didn't want to become a murderer.

'_**Do it!'**_

It whispered even louder. He didn't want to kill a new friend.

'_**Then I'll do it FOR you!'**_

After a split second, Reo's muscles tensed, and then became relaxed again. He took one last look at the friend he had just made, sickly smiled, and pulled the trigger. A bang resonated from the gun, and then Stef's life was gone.

As Reo and Jac were pulled back on the roof, Anna ran forward and hugged her brother.

"I told you!" she cried. "I told you we should have gotten a gun!"

For the nth time that day, everyone froze, and stared at the two siblings.

"Hahaha… for a second there, I thought she said that you should have bought a gun." Bryan laughed.

"Uhmm, she did." Jac replied, his face straight.

…

"If we had a gun, we could have used it to shoot those things. Maybe we could have saved some of my classmates." Anna rants, her scared persona virtually non-existent.

"You know," Reo gets their attention. "By now, you guys should stop getting surprised. It's bad for your health."

Reo was about to continue, when Bryan interrupted him. "Oh, is that a gun?" Without waiting for an answer, Bryan went to Reo and took a closer look at the said firearm. "It's a Smith and Wesson M-37!"

Looking at the firearm, then back at Bryan, Reo offers him the pistol, but he pushes it away. "Nah, I'll stick to my nail gun. Besides, that only has four bullets left."

Reo shrugs and holsters the revolver in his belt. Looking around, Reo remembers that they also rescued someone else, a woman, probably in her early twenties, by her looks. She was wearing what looked like a once white lab coat that was now smeared with some specks and drops of blood. Under it, she was wearing a simple white blouse accompanied by a black skirt.

"Uhmm, excuse me?" Reo approaches her and catches her attention.

"Oh! I'm sorry, it's just that, these few moments took a lot out of me." She looks at Reo with a sad smile. "It's too bad the others didn't make it, but at least Anna-chan's with her brother now."

"Ah," As if remembering something, she sheepishly smiles and rubs the back of her head. "Sorry, let me introduce myself. I'm Haruka Yumiko, a nurse-in-training. I was checking up on the class of Anna-chan, when those things just came in and killed everyone. Only the two of us were able to escape."

"I see… Anyways, allow us introduce ourselves." Reo looks at his group mates before starting. "I'm Reo Seishin, I was appointed as the leader of our little group."

"I'm Jac Torres, Anna's big brother." Jac says, patting his sister's head.

"I'm Franz der Drache, nice to meet you!" Franz says, waving his hand.

"I'm Robbie Lenhart, and this guy here," Robbie puts his arm over Bryan's shoulder and leans on him. "Is Bryan, my bro."

"Hey! Don't introduce others!" Bryan whines.

"Ramon Garcia." Ramon raises his hand.

"I'm Justin." After noticing Ramon's glare, Justin continues. "Justin Wook."

"Lastly, I'm JC Hibiki." JC waves his hand.

As the introductions ended, Reo steps up and continues. "Now that introductions are over, let's continue moving."

Approximately two minutes later, the group reaches the end of the block. "I guess we have to cross the streets again. The apartments JC and I use are nearby. We should go there first." Reo moves toward a nearby emergency fire escape. "The streets are filled with zombies, so be quiet. We'll use the same formation, with Yumiko-sensei and Anna-chan in the middle." With that, he starts to climb down into the infested streets.

After the entire group get down from the building, the smell of carnage immediately carries over to their noses. Ignoring it, Reo makes the first move forward, choosing a path that would encounter the least number of zombies.

Soon enough, they encountered a sight so horrible in the distance; two overturned busses clogging the road. Quietly calling the others, Reo crouches down, and beckons the others to follow. "Okay, it looks like we could still climb over the busses, but it might have to be one at a time. We should hurry before the zombies notice us."

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Justin asks, "They haven't noticed us anyways. What could possibly go wrong?"

Silence.

As Murphy's Law insists, Justin's stupid challenge was accepted by the universe in the form of a hobbling zombie. The zombie in question was mindlessly wandering the streets, when it stepped on a dismembered arm and slipped. It's head fell back and broke the window of a car. A few seconds after that, the hellish invention that was the car alarm summoned the horde.

After slapping Justin in the face, the entire group ran for the busses, hoping that they could escape in time. The first one to reach there was Bryan. Almost immediately, he climbed up to provide cover fire from his trusty nail gun. After him, the two girls were helped up.

Before anyone else could climb up, the horde was already upon them. There was no chance in hell they could all make it up that bus before the horde gets to them. Grabbing Justin's axe once again, Reo steps back. "Guys, I'll distract them, we—" Reo was interrupted before he could say anything else.

"Do you have a freaking death wish?" Bryan shouts, and then continues to shoot zombies from his vantage point on the bus.

"Yeah!" Jac agrees, then lets his weapon rest on his shoulders. "You shouldn't get all the fun!"

"Onii-chan?" Anna asks, initially confused by her brother's reply.

"We'll meet in JC's apartment tomorrow at noon. If we're not there by then," Reo looks over his shoulder, at his group mates. "Go to the school as planned."

Before anyone could object or stop them, Reo and Jac ran forward, plowing through the sea of infected, shouting all the way.

As they climbed the fire escape they came from, Reo stopped half-way, took out the revolver and fired two shots into two zombie's heads, killing them, and attracting others. "YOU BASTARDS! I'M OVER HERE!"

Jac also helped by banging his weapon against the edge of the ladder they were on, trying to distract the zombies from their friends. With all the noise they were making, most of the zombies rerouted and headed their way, but there were still some that were persistent.

Ramon was finally the last person to climb up the bus, but before he could make it to the top, a persistent zombie grabbed his foot and started to pull. He was about to lose his grip and fall, when he heard a powerful roar, followed by the bursting of the zombie's head.

Climbing up, he saw two people on a veranda of a nearby building, one of them, very familiar to him.

"Guys! Go in this building, you'll be safer here!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Yes, Jac's weapon is the defiler from dead rising 2.


	4. Phase 1: Chapter 3

**(A/N):** Wow! I haven't updated in quite some time now... well, honestly, writing chapters centered on character development is really boring, and takes up time. You have to think about their pasts, their pluses and minuses, as well as what happened to them while everyone else was running around. Well, I tried my very best to not make this chapter completely boring, but in my eyes, there wasn't enough action. Well, a good side of this is that I've finally created some foundations for the characters. I'll update the profiles page sometime tomorrow though, my internet is acting up. From here, I'll try to develop them without taking up entire chapters, but then again, I'm still not sure about that. Don't worry though, the next chapter should be a bit more... interesting. Bwahahaha! Now, without further ado and random rantings... chapter 3!

* * *

><p>The moment Ramon was about to be killed by a zombie, everything seemed to be in slow motion. Justin was reaching for Ramon, with the hopes of preventing his death. Bryan was too busy reloading his nail gun to help. Franz was fumbling to get his weapon in range of the zombie. But just as Ramon was about to lose his grip, the zombie pulling him down was shot in the head with a 7.62x.51 NATO round.<p>

The group looked at the source, a soldier, and a student on the veranda of a nearby apartment.

"G-gab?" The shocked voice of Ramon started. "What are yo—"

"Hurry!" Gab interrupted him, and lifted his weapon, a FN SCAR Heavy, and started to shoot other nearby zombies.

Wasting no more time, the group jumped off the bus they were on, and headed towards the apartment their saviors told them to go to. After everyone got in, JC immediately closed the front double doors and started to barricade it with the furniture he found nearby. After all, he didn't want to make the same mistake he made in the hardware store.

The moment JC slammed the double doors shut, Franz, Robbie, and Bryan also helped JC with carrying the furniture they found to fortify the door. After they finished, they turned around and surveyed the current area they were in.

The lobby of the apartment was surprisingly spacious, probably because there were no people in it other than them, and because of the fact that all the furniture in it was barricading the front door. To the left, there was a stairwell, with two elevators beside it.

Currently, one of the elevators was going down. As it opened, they were greeted with a sight so unusual; a friend of theirs, Gab, armed to the teeth. He was wearing a flak vest over his school uniform, a P223 sig sauer, strapped to his left thigh, and a FN SCAR-H mk.17, with a custom AN/PVQ-31 scope. Beside him, was a soldier, most likely a foreigner, armed with almost same weapons and armor, the only difference being that his rifle was a SCAR-L mk.16 with a FN40GL, a custom grenade launcher.

"…Is that Gab?" whispers start to emerge from the group.

"Yeah, I think it is."

"Wasn't he a loser?"

"Why does he have actual weapons?"

"You know that I can hear you, right?" Gab finally speaks. "Anyways, we should continue this upstairs where it's a lot safer."

Still too shocked to ask him anything substantial, everyone just follows him and the soldier into the two elevators, with five people in each elevator. They went up to the third floor, and went out. Surprisingly, the floor was as clean as it normally was, but after walking a few more steps forward. They noticed that the doors leading to the stairs was barricaded and nailed shut. Beyond it, they could hear fists pounding against it, but could not go through.

"Don't worry, nothing's getting through that." The soldier says, sensing their worry. "Besides, I wired the door to a grenade that would explode once it's opened. If they get through, we'll have a flashy alarm to warn us."

Gab then opens an apartment door and goes in. "I suggest you come in. I think you'll want some answers."

Inside, the room was actually simple, with the exception of a few huge bags on the floor, and a small number of gun parts lying on the bed.

"Shit." Bryan swore, dropping his nail gun. "Are you some under cover field agent, or something?"

Nervously laughing and rubbing the back of his head, Gab puts down his weapon on the bed, and sits down. "Well, maybe I should start at the beginning."

"My older brother is actually a MARSOC soldier stationed here in Japan. Since he's the only family I have left, I moved to Japan since he asked me to. Everyday, after school, he actually brings me to a shooting range in his base to train me in ranged combat." Before Gab could continue, Franz asks him a question.

"So when I said 'get a life', you started shooting guns?"

"Well, not exactly. Anyways, today, I was about to go to school when my brother asked me to go to the base. When I got there though, there was a commotion; apparently, the base was under attack by an unknown force. My brother told me to stay with a friend of his until everything settles down." With that, the soldier raises his hand, signifying that he was the 'friend' of Gab's brother.

"Oh yeah, introductions; guys, this is the friend of my bro, Donn." Gab points to the soldier.

"Going back to the story," Gab continues. "We were waiting in the shooting range, when my brother rushed in with his squad, fully armed. He told us to follow him since it was dangerous in the base. The top brass either died or left the base after things went south. Well, long story short, we got separated from my brother, barricaded this apartment as a makeshift base, then found you guys."

By the time Gab finished, everyone seemed to be shocked at the sudden revelation. After all, you'd never expect a friend from the science club to be a pro marksman knowledgeable with weapons.

As if trying to remember something, Gab squints his eyes, then rubs his chin. After a few seconds of thinking, he snaps his fingers. "Oh! What happened to Reo and Jac? Last I saw, they were climbing a ladder that leads to a roof."

"Well," JC starts, "We're supposed to meet in my apartment tomorrow at noon. If he doesn't come, we were to continue going to the school."

"The school?" Gab asks, a small smile forming on his face. "Why? I'd never have thought that you guys would willingly go to school."

".Ha." Bryan laughs with a straight face. "Anyways, I wonder what Reo and Jac are doing."

* * *

><p>"Achoo!"<p>

At that exact moment, Jac and Reo sneezed simultaneously, then looked at each other.

"What the hell?"

After diverting the attention of most of the zombies away from the group, the two of them went back to walking along the rooftops.

"So," Jac asks, breaking the silence. "Now what?"

"Let's look for a place where we can sleep without the fear of being eaten alive. I remember seeing a motel somewhere here, and if I heard right, it has an indoor bath."

"I see." Jac stretches his arms and yawns. "By the way, does the revolver still have shots left?"

Reo looks at him and sadly smiles. "Yeah, just two." _Two shots, two people_, but deep inside, he was hoping that he'd never have to use it for that purpose.

After walking a good fifteen minutes or so, Reo stops, looks at the side, and points. "There it is."

The building in question was an old traditional style building that was at least three floors high. The only problem with it was the small horde of zombies that littered the street around it. There were at least thirty of them.

"Okay, so all we have to do is get past the zombies, into the motel, and barricade the front doors before they get close?" Jac asks, eyebrow raised.

"yup"

"With crude melee weapons made from a hardware store?"

"yup"

"On a full freaking bladder?"

"yup… wait, what?" Reo gives Jac a 'what the fuck face' before shaking his head.

"Then, let's go!" Jac smirks, then goes down a nearby emergency ladder, followed by Reo, who rolled his eyes before going down.

As they reached the bottom, Reo motioned Jac to stay and be quiet. While they were walking for the past fifteen minutes, he was thinking about the zombies that he saw in some games and movies. Specifically, on how they behave; judging from what he's seen so far, the zombies they've been fighting were slow, so he's thankful for that. If they were sprinting zombies, they'd all be dead, or their group would suffer much more casualties.

After signaling Jac to stay and be quiet, he crept up to a nearby car, and picked up an empty softdrink can and with one quick motion, he threw it at the head of a zombie. When the can hit, it didn't react at all, and continued to stand and gape at nothing; When the can hit the floor, the zombie somehow moved in its general direction. _'interesting…'_

Reo then signals Jac to slowly come to his position. As Jac crouched near him, Reo whispered, "Did you see that?" Reo motions to the zombie he hit.

"Yeah." Jac replies. "Can they see?"

Reo smirks before standing up. "One way to find out. Stay here and watch my back. If they can see, get ready to run."

In most zombie games or movies, zombies have always been able to 'see' their prey. Although the same couldn't be said at the moment, Reo wanted to be sure, even though his legs were shaking in fear. If they react to his presence, he may not come out of there alive.

Slowly and quietly, he raised the fire axe he got from Justin and quietly walked forward. As he passed the can he threw a while ago, he picked it up and threw it far to his left, into a wall. Almost after the sound came out, the zombies started to simultaneously turn their heads in its direction then walk towards it.

While the sound actually attracted a lot of the zombies, it didn't get all of them. _'This should be safer now.'_ He thought before quietly walking up to a nearby zombie. As he came closer, he was vigilant: he had to make sure that it wouldn't get him if he alerted it to his presence, he also had to watch out for nearby zombies, after all, he didn't want to be caught with his pants down, both literal and figuratively.

As he stood in front of the said zombie, he noticed that its eyes were somewhat covered in white, as if it were blind. To check if he was right, he started to wave his hand up and down, as if he were trying to catch its attention, but the zombie didn't move. _'So they're blind.'_

To check another theory, he poked the zombie with the fire axe from a safe enough distance. The zombie staggered back, but didn't react as well. _'So I guess they only hunt by sound.'_

Satisfied with his findings, he motions to Jac to come out and follow. As they met up, Reo raised his index finger to his lips, then pointed to his ears. Jac nodded, understanding the message he was trying to give.

Quietly, the duo walked past the zombies, satisfied that they weren't being attacked. They were already at the front door of the motel when the welcome bell hung overhead rung.

'_Shit!' _Reo silently cursed as all the zombies within a twenty meter radius outside was attracted to the sound of the bell, which also could have been the dinner bell, as far as they were concerned.

Immediately after the bell rang, Reo got one of his garden shears and threw it at the windshield of a car not so far away. Thankfully, the car didn't have an alarm, so the only sound that came from it was the sound of its windshield shattering. The sound alerted the zombies, and they changed their route from the door to the car.

Sighing in relief, Reo closed and locked the front doors as quietly as he could, and stepped back. "Let's scout the place for zombies first. We can look for rooms after that."

"Sure." Jac agrees and proceeds to go to the stairs leading to the next floor. He started climbing it when he saw a map near the counter. "Hey, there's a map of the building on the counter."

True enough, there was a map engraved on the wall behind the counter. The first floor had a restaurant and the baths, while the second and third floors were where the rooms were. After making a mental map of the layout, the two continued to the second floor.

Holding the fire axe firmly in his hands, Reo took point and started to quietly walk down the hallway, trying to listen for anything that may be dangerous. As they were walking down the hall, he couldn't help but notice the lack of death, decay, and blood. Maybe the residents left when the outbreak struck? Deep in his heart, he was hoping that the motel really was empty. If there were zombies behind each of the doors they were passing, he might as well skin himself alive and jump into a pool of alcohol. That might be less painful than being a human happy meal to some ravenous freaks with bacteria ridden and decayed teeth.

As he was nearing a corner, he suddenly heard what sounded like footsteps, they were soft, but they were still footsteps. Immediately, he raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist. Jac saw this and stopped, readying his weapon just in case. Reo then leans against the wall nearest the corner, looks at Jac and nods, holding his hand out. Slowly, he starts counting down, using his fingers. _Five, four, three, two, one._

Immediately after the countdown, Reo quickly spun around the corner and raised the fire axe and slammed it vertically down, only for it to clash with a wooden sword. Amazingly, the wooden sword hit the body of the axe, and not the head, so it did not break. After realizing that he was actually fighting with another person, he quickly withdrew his weapon, to see that he actually almost killed a girl.

Instinctively, as the introvert he is, Reo backed up with a small cry of surprise. And surprisingly as well, the girl apparently had the same reaction, except that, she fumbled on her footing and fell forward… right into Reo.

As Reo looked up, his face was just a few inches from the face of the girl. Immediately, he looked away, face reddening. Just then he thought, _'Wait… when two people of a different sex fall on each other, doesn't the hand usually…'_ Before completing his line of thought, he dreadingly looks in the general direction of where his hands were.

Thankfully, they were on the girls shoulders, and not… another place. Thanking his lucky stars for helping him avert a tragic accident and a swollen cheek, he then looked at the girl that fell on him. She was currently in shock, she was looking blankly ahead, her cheeks just as red as his. Upon closer inspection, the girl actually looked like a teen. Her dark blue eyes seemed to have the power to gaze into his soul. Her—

"Erhem!" Jac cleared his throat loud enough to snap the two teens on the floor out of their daze. His grin was stretching from ear to ear, and would widen even more, if given the chance. "You know, there are a lot of rooms to pick from…"

Almost immediately, he burst into laughter as Reo and the girl frantically scrambled to get on their feet, their faces turning into shades of red.

"Uhmm… well… about that… uhmm…. Y-yeah, uhmm… sorry about that…" Reo sputtered, his mind clearly in disarray.

"Ah… w-well, it was also my fault, so, I should apologize as well." The girl said, trying to avoid looking Reo in the eye.

"Ara, ara…" A voice behind the girl said, accompanied by a giggle. "I wonder what got into our so called 'fearless' leader?"

The voice turned out to be another girl, with her hair done in twin tails. Beside her, the one who was giggling, was another girl with long brown hair. As Reo looked at the three of them, he noticed that they were all wearing a school uniform for girls, though not from the school he came from.

"U-uhmm… let's start with introductions?" Reo asked, wondering if he said that part right. He wasn't used to talking with members of the opposite sex. He wasn't gay as well. In fact, he actually sent a guy to the school infirmary once for insinuating that he was gay. Well, the minute he finished his sentence, his face crumpled inwards, with a fist helping it. Needless to say, no one ever tried calling Reo gay again. When asked, he always said that he was an introvert, and that's how he really is sometimes.

"Ah… sure," The girl Reo ran into said. "We're all students from Gakuen High. I'm Hitomi Himawari." Hitomi said with a small bow.

The girl with the long brown hair stepped forward with a small bow, "I'm Kiyoko Akemi, Nice to meet you!"

Lastly, after a bit of silent persuasion from her two friends, the last one stepped forward, mumbling a bit, arms crossed. "I'm Rin Campbell."

After they introduced themselves, Reo started. "The two of us are students of Fujimi High. I'm Reo Seishin."

"And I'm Jac Torres." Jac finished.

"So," Rin said, her arms still crossed. "What were you doing here? We didn't see you come in, so that must mean that you came before us. What would you want from a motel?"

"Ah, about that." Reo said, looking around. "I'd rather share life stories after the place is secured. But to summarize why the two of us are here, we were basically separated from our group and needed a place to spend the night."

"…I agree." Hitomi said. "The only place we haven't checked is the third floor."

The now group of five then quietly go to the stairs to climb to the next floor. Even though the floor was said to be clear, Reo still didn't want their footsteps to be heard by certain murderous creatures.

On the last floor, Reo looked at everyone and nodded. Since only he and Jac had the actual deadly weapons, it was decided that they take point, since it would be easier for them to kill. Moving forward, they used a smaller version of the formation Reo's group used. Jac and Reo were still at point, making sure that the forward areas were clear, Rin and Kiyoko were at the two flanks, opening the doors of the apartments using the keys they got from the front desk earlier. Lastly, Hitomi was the rear guard, making sure that nothing would be able to sneak up to them from behind.

As they slowly made their way to the corner, Reo stopped, then raised a clenched fist. Everyone stopped, raising their guard and paying attention to their surroundings. At first, they couldn't hear anything, but later on, they were able to make out a sound that sounded like something dragging on the carpet. Reo quietly moved to the corner and stuck his mirror out. There were two zombies, one was a male wearing the attire of a porter, while the other was a female caretaker. They were just standing there, with the occasional shuffle, but didn't make any other sound.

Reo looked at the group and raised two fingers. _Two zombies_. Jac readied his weapon, while Reo took out his garden shear. After his stunt at the front door, he decided that the garden shear was only suitable as a secondary weapon, like a knife. _An oversized knife._

Reo rushed to the male zombie, and thrust the garden shear up its chin. After that, he kicked the zombie off, then stabbed its forehead while it was down. On Jac's side, after Reo dashed around the corner, he followed suit, and went for the female zombie. Instead of a three-hit-combo like Reo, Jac just simply delivered an upswing and sent the female zombie head flying to the other end of the hall, while its body slumped down.

All this time, the girls were watching with a raised eyebrow. Ordinary schoolboys would probably faint at the sight of blood, and these guys have actual weapons, while wielding them like pros. After the two kills, they quickly dumped the bodies (and head) down the garbage chute, then continued their search on that floor. Later, when they deemed the floor to be clear of zombies or survivors, they moved into a nearby room.

"The floor's clear." Rin said. "Now what were the two of you doing here again?"

"What were the three of you doing here?" Jac countered.

Reo face palmed. _What the hell was that for?_

Before the two of them were able to start bickering, Reo stated, "As I said a while ago, we were with a group of ten. We were martial artists headed for the tournament in the city. Back then, there were eleven of us. Three of them were killed, but we found Jac's sister and her school nurse while walking on the rooftops."

"Rooftops?" Hitomi asked.

"Yeah." Reo nodded. "One of the observations we made about the zombies: they couldn't climb ladders or open doors; they lack the dexterity they once had."

Continuing with his story, Reo started. "When we were crossing an intersection, there was an… accident, and we were surrounded. Jac and I plowed through them, making as much noise as we could so the zombies would stop minding our team mates. It worked, and we were supposed to meet in the apartments I stay in tomorrow at noon. The two of us then decided to stay in a motel for the night, and ended up here."

"I see." Rin said, rubbing her chin. "Wait… you said that you've made more observations about those… zombies?"

"Ah!" Reo snapped his fingers. "From a few tests we've made, it turns out that the zombies only hunt on sound. No sight, no touch, no smell. Just sound."

"Then my assumptions are correct. What you said just now confirmed it." Rin says, then grins. "That means getting around would be easier, now that we know how they hunt. So long as we move quietly, we'd probably attract only the zombies that are really nearby."

Jac nods in understanding, then as if remembering something, tilts one of his eyebrows up. "It's not fair that we did all the talking. What are your stories?"

As if prodded by his attitude, a vein appears on Rin's forehead. "Why should we—"

"Rin," Kiyoko interjects, waving a finger back and forth in a preaching manner. "It's only right that we say our part. Besides…" Kiyoko smiles innocently. "Wouldn't it be fun if we told them about the time when yo—"

Rin's hand suddenly shoots out and covers Kiyoko's mouth, before her face erupts in a shade of red. "B-baka!" Rin sputters before hissing in Kiyoko's ear. "Don't even think about it!"

As the two girls were preoccupied with that squabble, Hitomi sighs then looks at the two guys. "Sorry about that. That happens once in a while. Anyways, let me explain why we're here."

Grabbing a nearby chair and sitting on it, Hitomi starts. "The three of us are from the kendo club of Gakuen High. Since the guys were supposed to compete first, the rest of us simply stayed in the dojo to train. There were five of us, but," Hitomi's eyes darkened a bit. "Now, only the three of us are left."

Reo looked down; obviously, she looked hurt by thinking of that. And to make it worse, _HE_ was the one who most likely reopened that wound. Reo knew all too well what it felt like to lose someone close to you. Not just a friend mind you, he lost his entire family to a car accident. Not just a parent, nor a sibling, but EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON in his family. Mom, dad, and sister, DEAD. And what did he do? He lived. He lost everything that truly meant to him at that time, including a part of his heart. Now, all that was left was a black husk painted red. Even though he was fine in life now, he never forgot about that tragedy, not that he could anyways.

Now, whenever he sees someone who just lost a person dear to them, he remembers the feeling of loss. Sometimes, when people die, some random fluke goes up to the person suffering the most and says things like "I feel your pain." When in reality, they've never felt the pain of losing someone dear to them. Reo was different from those, he really knows the feeling of having something ripped from his heart… since he saw it happen first-hand.

"We were practicing when those… 'Zombies' attacked our school." Hitomi continues, her other companions now completely silent. "Everywhere was chaotic. People were eating other people, student, teacher, guy, or girl. At that moment, since we just finished from a bit of training, and since the kendo club's dojo was behind the school, we didn't completely know about what was happening outside. The five of us just finished changing when we heard screams from outside. Instinctively, we all got our wooden swords and rushed outside. What we saw stunned us for quite a while, actually." Hitomi sadly smiles, as she remembers how they looked like when they saw what looked like hell on earth.

"To make things more ironic, we only snapped back to reality when we heard the screams of one of our friends from another club. She was being bitten by at least three zombies. One was biting her neck; the other two were biting her shoulder and arm. We decided that the school wasn't safe, so we grabbed our bags and ran for the back gate." Hitomi looks down again.

"But it turns out that it was locked. We forgot that crucial bit of information since panic took over, and to make things worse, the way we went in, was the only way in, and that a few zombies were already making their way towards us. Rin started to pick the lock since she knew how to, but by the time she got it open, one of us was bitten and killed." At the mention of her name, Rin bitterly looks away, not wanting to remember the memory.

Hitomi inhales and looks back up. "When we got out, things were no different than the school, if not worse. We decided to go to a nearby shrine to think of what to do next, but on the way there, we saw that the streets were filled with so much… death, and zombies. We saw at least a dozen policemen fighting them, but they were overrun. Since the shrine was now out of the question, we decided to go to a motel, or an apartment instead. While we were crossing the street, a zombie we thought was dead grabbed the foot of another of our friends and bit it." Hitomi pauses for a while. "We killed it, but her scream attracted all the zombies in the vicinity towards us. She died to give us time to escape. About half an hour of hiding and quiet walking, we reached this place."

"We also lost a few friends, so we can sympathize with you." Reo started, remembering how his friends died. "I wouldn't go into details though, but before one of our friends died, he gave me a gun."

Almost immediately, the three girls perked up at the sound of 'gun'.

"Though it only has two bullets left…"

"…oh."

Standing up and moving to the window, Reo moves the curtain a bit and looks out. There were still zombies, but they were slowly hobbling away. _Probably lured by the screams of others._

"If we all stay quiet, we won't be noticed by the zombies, but either way, I think we should still barricade the entrance." Reo pauses. "Well, the three of you don't need to, but hey, better paranoid than dead, right?"

Rin immediately remembers that the front door was unprotected and covered by only glass, and agrees with the plan. Later, all five of them were getting chairs and sofas from the rooms and started to barricade the entrance the best they could. To add a little comic relief, Jac even brought kitchen sinks from the bathrooms. Though technically they were bathroom sinks, he said that it was the thought that mattered, right?

An hour flew by and the new group of five looked at their handy work. Since there weren't any windows, they only had to barricade the door, which was now covered with sofas, chairs, tables, and sinks tied up with… lots of tape. Although it was crudely done, it did the job. Nothing, zombie or not, was getting through that without a little difficulty.

Wiping her hands on a small towel she brought, Kiyoko sighs then as if noticing something, sniffs the air. Confused, Rin and Hitomi follow suit, then recoil, as if stung by something. They look at Jac and Reo, who have no idea on what was happening, and simultaneously point a finger at them.

"The two of you stink." Rin plainly says, taking her handkerchief out and covering her nose. "Go take a bath for Christ's sake! If we don't die from zombie bites, we'd die from your stenches!"

Curious, Reo sniffs around, then raises an eyebrow. "…I don't smell anything."

Jac inhales then looks at him, crosses his arms, then nods. "It's the smell of manliness."

"MANLINESS MY ASS!" Rin explodes, throwing a conveniently placed sofa cushion at Jac, then a shoe at Reo. "You both stink! Just take a bath and save us the torment!"

"Wh-what the hell! Why the hell'd I get the shoe?" Reo says, rubbing the spot where he got hit, ie. The face.

"Next time, it won't just be a shoe." Rin crosses her arms and glares at the two.

Quietly gulping and reaching for their bags, the two guys helplessly slouch towards the men's bath, not wanting to incur the wrath of a woman.

"Faster!" Rin barks at them.

"Yes Ma'am!" Reo and Jac stop slouching and start sprinting to the men's bath.

Giggling a bit, Kiyoko looks at Rin and Hitomi. "Hey, why don't we take a bath as well? The water should still be warm?"

Silently nodding, the three of them head towards the women's bath.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN): **Well, there you have it! I'll leave that cliff hanger there for you guys to ponder on what kind of ech- plot I'll be posting in the next chapter. Since this is my first fanfic, I've finally gotten my first writer's block. And yeah, it's not nice... at all. There aren't that many zombie related stuff out there to get any ideas from, so I have to think about what to do next, though the plot is already fixed. Anyways, I'll update again once I've written 5,000 words.


	5. Phase 1: Chapter 4

**(A/N):** Yeah, summer's over, college begins. Well, this is somewhat disappointing. The chapter isn't as long as I wanted it to be, but it's a bit juicy. Well, in exchange for an awfully short chapter, i'll try to make the next chapter longer than usual. **I do not own HOTD or any other copyrighted thing that may be mentioned here.** I'll try to take out or shorten all the heart to heart talks like the ones last chapter since writing it bores me. Well, some people may like them, but I don't like writing them so much. Anyways, on to the story!

* * *

><p><strong>Ch. 4<strong>

The baths were relatively big, for the men's bath, there was a pool that could fit at least forty people at once at the center, while there were a few showers at the sides. There are a few towels and clothes scattered around, but again, there were no traces of blood; even the pool water was pristine.

"You know," Reo starts as he jumps into the pool with only his underwear. "That Rin throws hard…"

"Pshh!" Jac snorts as he also gets in. "That was nothing!"

Reo rolls his eyes. "Says the guy who got hit with a pillow."

"Yeah, but—" Jac starts to be interrupted.

"While I got hit with a friggin' shoe." Reo starts ranting. "A shoe! Of all things, why did she use a shoe? I mean, where did she get it? It like… appeared out of nowhere! Seriously…"

Jac sighs and shakes his head, before perking up at an idea. "Hey dude."

"What?"

"You know," Jac starts to grin. "I wonder if the girls are taking a bath as well."

"Well, I guess they are." Reo answers, then raises an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Dude!" Jac suddenly gets on his feet and raises a clenched fist. "It is our nature as men to peep on the girls while they're taking a bath! It is a tradition among teens like you and me! It's… our duty to risk our lives to try and get a peep at the other side! How can we call ourselves men if we can't even fulfill this one thing?"

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that." Reo says while face palming. "Well, I value my life, so—"

"Dude!" Jac moves to where Reo is and starts shaking his shoulders violently. "This… this is our calling! We must peep or we'll both die as sad people! This might be the last time we'll ever get the chance to do this!"

"Well, if we do this, it really will be the last time." Reo says as he closes his eyes and ponders.

"Fine." Reo opens his eyes. Before Jac could say anything, he continued. "But I'm just going to accompany you there. I'm gonna be risking my life by doing just this."

"That's good enough! Let's go!" Jac says as he starts heading in a direction, before stopping. "Where is it?"

* * *

><p><strong>Girl's Bath…<strong>

"There! All done." Rin says with a smug face. "There's no telling what those two would do."

Before going into the girl's bath, Rin suggested that they set up warning traps just in case Reo or Jac would attempt to peep on them. They set up things that would fall and make noise to alert them of peeping toms. To spice things up, the three of them brought all sorts of throw able items that would make any person hurt Now, the girl's bath was comparable to a mini-fortress. Peeping toms will certainly have a hard time getting what they want.

"Is this really necessary?" Hitomi asks as she enters the pool.

"Of course it is!" Rin says, her face showing looks of disgust. "Men."

"Oh, come on." Kiyoko purrs. "It's their nature to do that."

"Nature?" Rin raises an eyebrow. "If that's the case, it's also our nature to unleash pain and suffering to those who attempt it."

Hitomi sighs, Rin wouldn't back down whenever someone challenged her beliefs. Usually, when some unlucky guy tries to, he gets brutally kicked by curses, slapped in the face with cold facts, and shot with Rin's trademark finger pointing. No one has ever challenged her and won.

"I guess that's fine too, but." Kiyoko gets closer to Rin, a devilish, yet innocent smile plastered on her face. "What if the opposite happens?"

Rin notices Kiyoko's movement and slowly goes in the opposite direction. "Kiyoko, we're in a zombie apocalypse."

Kiyoko just smiles.

Hitomi watches the next scene and shakes her head. _'I guess there's one person who can win against her.'_

"You know," Reo starts as he continues following Jac. "If the girl's bath is just next door, I don't see why we have to get lost."

Jac stops and gives Reo an odd look. "Well, we can't just go through the front doors! That's suicide!"

"That's why we need to find a good place where we can see them while they can't see us." Jac says as he continues walking.

After a few more seconds of walking the two of them stop and look in front of them.

"I guess they were prepared for this." Jac ponders out loud while trying to think of a way to get past the current obstacle in front of them. If they weren't trying to do something stealthily, he'd just go through without a care, but no, the warning trap was too advanced for him to think of a way to go through without making noise. Scattered on the floor were a few bottles spread apart, with a lot of crunchy cereal scattered in between. If they were to simply walk through it, the sound of crunching cereal and falling bottles in a very quiet corridor would be enough to alert the girls of the impending danger approaching them.

"Well, at least we tried, right?" Reo says, itching to get out of there. He had a feeling something bad was going to happen and he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't have to tend to broken bones before going to sleep.

"No." Jac says, his eyes burning with determination and passion. "There must be a way…"

Reo rolls his eyes. _'So much for that thought'_

Back in the girl's bath, everything became quiet. The earlier squabbles of Rin and Kiyoko have died down and all three are currently resting in the warmth of the pool. After just one day of surviving in a zombie apocalypse, they were all tired. It was almost as if they had finished exams, and are now resting.

Kiyoko breaks the silence. "See, they're not even trying to peep. Everything's still quiet."

"That's what worries me." Rin says, her eyes narrowing a bit. "What if they bypassed them without us knowing. For all you know," Rin pauses and continues in a hushed voice. "They're already watching."

"Rin, Kiyoko's right." Hitomi stretches her arms. "It's good to be paranoid now, but you should know how to relax every once in a while. Who knows? This might be the last haven we'll have for some time."

Rin opens her mouth to protest, but stops and sighs instead. Maybe she really needs to relax. After all, it's not like—

'_crunch'_

Rin perks up at the sound. _'Damn bastards! I knew they'd try this.' _She gets up and wraps a towel around herself, before taking hold of her wooden sword and heading to the door the sound came from. "…Men…"

Rin pulls the door open and immediately slashes downward with her wooden sword. It connects and hits something, but with the current lighting of the corridor, she couldn't see who she hit. "That'll teach you not to peep on u—"

Rin stops and her eyes widen when the figure she hit steps forward, showing not Jac or Reo, but a man with a torn up and bloodied figure. She instinctively backs up and screams, before tripping on her footing and falling back.

"Rin!" Hitomi and Kiyoko shout.

* * *

><p>"Okay dude, this is it!" Jac whispers excitedly while standing in front of another door. "All we have to do is look through this keyhole. I'll go first!"<p>

Before he gets to even bend down to the keyhole's level, the two of them heard a scream.

"Shit! We've been caught already?" Jac whispers, his face showing a confused look, but soon after, he continues to look through the keyhole anyways. Might as well look and get caught than to get caught without seeing anything.

He barely sees four figures… _'four? But there were only three of them… wait…'_

His growing suspicion was confirmed when he was able to make out the trademark moan of a zombie. Immediately, he looks up with a serious face. "Zombies are inside."

Without a second passing, Reo runs back and grabs a nearby fire extinguisher then kicks the door open. Inside, with only one wooden sword, and some small bits of random furniture, he sees the three girls, backing into a corner, trapped by… at least a dozen zombies approaching fast, more coming in each second. He rushed to the nearest zombie inside and bashed it in the temple with a horizontal swing, making it fall down. He then took off the safety pin of the extinguisher and started spraying its contents all over the zombies. While it didn't kill any, the sound it made lured the zombies to him instead.

"Run while they're distracted!" Reo shouts while slowly backing up. "We'll hold them off here."

Not missing a beat, the three girls wrapped in only towels slipped past the zombies, rushed passed Reo and out the door. "Thanks!" He barely made out the voice of Hitomi shouting back to him.

He stopped spraying the zombies, looked at his surroundings, then backed up even more. _'Where the hell is Jac?'_

Reo barely had time to think as the nearest zombie lunged towards him, arms raised. Reo backed up, making the zombie trip and fall down. He then bashed in the back of its head with the butt of the fire extinguisher and backed up.

"Well this is just FREAKING great!" Reo sarcastically says to himself as he backs up even more. "I'm fighting at least a dozen zombies in a freaking towel that could fall off any second, while using an almost empty fire extinguisher as a weapon, while walking on randomly scattered cereal bits on bare feet! What else cou—"

'_Shit'_ Reo stopped himself from finishing that last sentence… no, that last demonically enchanted phrase with hopes that Murphy would overlook it, but alas! Just a few seconds later, another door burst open, with another dozen zombies flooding in. He knew that life was cruel, but wasn't this too much?

Just then, he heard someone call out to him from behind.

"Dude! Catch!" Jac shouted as he tossed him the fire axe before readying his weapon as well. Following him were the three girls still covered in towels, but now, they had much more decent weapons with them. Hitomi was using the garden shear of Reo, Rin was still holding onto her wooden sword, and Kiyoko was holding another fire extinguisher.

"The bags with all our stuff are still here!" Hitomi explains, face in a mild shade of red. "The entrance is still fine, so if we kill the ones here, we should still be fine."

"Well then," Reo smirks as he cleaves the head of an undead chef in two. "We'll all be fighting in towels. Try not to let the zombies snatch them off."

Jac whistles, and with that, both he and Reo start rushing to kill the undead, while leaving behind two unusually flustered girls and a giggling Kiyoko.

As he rushed forward, Jac lowered his weapon and delivered a powerful upswing directed at the torso of a male zombie. Upon contact, it staggered back and fell, downing at least four more zombies behind it. He then started to mechanically swing his weapon left and right while moving forward, while he didn't kill any, he knocked down a great number of zombies. Reo, in the meantime started to kill the downed zombies Jac left behind. All he had to do was either bash the skull of a downed zombie with a downward strike, or use the axe like a golf club and deliver upswings to those that were getting up. He was moving onto his next kill when a stream of carbon dioxide filled his way.

"Ah!" Kiyoko waved her hand. "Sorry!"

Beside her, Rin and Hitomi were using the same tactic. Since Rin would have a hard time killing with a wooden sword, all she did was knock down those that were too close, while Hitomi moves in and stabs the downed zombie the same way Reo did a while back. While it was slower than theirs, the tactic was still effective. All they had to do was keep their distance, rinse, and repeat.

After a few minutes, all their undead invaders were bleeding on the floor, more dead than before. Thankfully, no one was hurt too much, with the exception of Rin, who had gotten a bruise on her backside when the first zombie surprised her. Everyone else was fine, if not tired. There were a few instances when the towel wrapped around them would almost fall due to all the movement. That was especially funny when Reo's towel was suddenly grabbed by a downed zombie. Wanting to kill it before it could do anything bad, he delivered a powerful upswing directly aimed at its face. What he didn't take into account was what would happen after he hit it. The zombie did die, but it fell back while still holding the towel. As a result, Reo's towel was yanked off and showed… cycling shorts.

Everyone present paused for a while with a single thought going through their heads. _'Who wears cycling shorts to a bath?'_

In order to prevent himself from being completely embarrassed, he immediately said to the group without facing them. "What, I hope you weren't expecting something else."

Flustered again by the implications of what he said, the girls, with the exception of Kiyoko, looked away. Jac just laughed.

...

"So," Reo panted, hoisting his fire axe on his shoulder. "I don't think you'd want to take a bath here anymore, right?"

Not knowing who it was directed at, Hitomi answered. "Yeah, I think I'll just take a quick shower to wash off the blood."

"Why don't you use the men's bath for the showers? Jac and I will… clean this place a bit, right?" Reo says, then looks at Jac with a 'just say yes' look.

"…What? Why?" Jac answers, oblivious to the 'look'.

Reo stares at him with a blank face.

"Oh… fine then." Jac halfheartedly says, looks at the pile of corpses on the floor, then sighs.

* * *

><p><strong>Men's Bath<strong>

"I don't get it." Rin starts off, while entering a shower cubicle. "Is there a place here that we haven't checked? No, more like, how can more than a dozen zombies hide in a place we've already checked? There must be some entrance that they've come from."

Kiyoko, ever the optimist, nods, "Well, at least the guys were able to help us."

Hitomi rolls her eyes. While she was grateful for the help, she couldn't help but wonder what Rin would say.

"…Yeah" Rin softly says, then as if realizing something, narrows her eyes. "Wait. Don't you find it weird that they arrived _too_ fast?"

"No." Kiyoko immediately answers, making Rin face palm. "But then, they were also kind enough to clean up the girl's bath."

Rin doesn't say anything. She'd leave the matter alone for now.

* * *

><p><strong>Women's Bath<strong>

"What the hell dude?" Jac complains as he holds up the remains of a bashed skull. "Why did you offer to clean up this place?"

"It's something like a temporary insurance." Reo replies, bashing a severed head before moving to the next severed head he sees. "Chances are, they probably realized that we jumped in from the guy's bath to the girl's bath too fast. Doing this might make them forgive us for now, but in the meantime, don't complain."

"Tch." Jac scowls, grabbing a mob and pushing the dead bodies to one side. "The other guys probably don't have to do this."

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile…<strong>

"So." Bryan starts, putting down Gab's sidearm. "There are three P223's, including yours, one SCAR-H, one SCAR-L, a nail gun fitted with a rifle scope, two smoke grenades, a bag filled with explosives and ammo for the mounted grenade launcher, and some other utility crap." Bryan finishes, not bothering to mention the other stuff they had.

"Yeah." Donn nods, stretching his arms. "You guys can use the pistols for now. Gab and I have better guns anyways."

In the past few hours, the guys were reinforcing the door armed with explosives even more, and rechecking all the rooms on the floor, they also sent Justin and Ramon to use the rooftops to scout the area using the newly obtained military binoculars. They were to check for road blocks and possible paths they could take, marking it on a map they got. Meanwhile, the two girls were preparing dinner. Fortunately, both Anna and Haruka knew how to cook. Anna knew how to because she and Jac were staying in an apartment. If she got hungry while her brother wasn't there, she would usually cook for herself. Haruka was somewhat like that. Instead, she just didn't like to eat out, so she either had food delivered, or cooked for herself. Apparently, she liked to cook and started cooking from a young age.

Later on, everyone retreated to a single room they used as their "headquarters". Both the walls of the room were partially destroyed by the melee weapons carried by the group earlier. Bryan suggested that they combine three rooms into one for their stay. After all, in a zombie apocalypse, no one would find the time to reprimand or bill them for the damage.

"Dinner's ready!" Haruka smiled while putting the last set of eating utensils on the small table at the center of the room.

Of course, the sound of food being ready was more than enough to raise the guy's spirits. After all, a hard day of work or school couldn't compare to surviving the first day of a zombie apocalypse. Not only did they get tired, but they also experienced friends and family dying all around them. And just to think… this was just the first day.

Since the tables supplied in the rooms were small, Robbie, Bryan, JC, and Franz got tables from the other rooms and put them together in the big room, while Gab and Donn got the cushions to sit on. In the end, there was a huge table that easily accommodated the food and people.

"Itadakimasu!" Everyone said as they dug into the food prepared by Haruka and Anna.

As they were eating, Donn remembered something and asked Ramon. "What's the situation outside?"

"Well, aside from the road block caused by the bus, all nearby roads are fine, if not loaded with cars. As for zombies, there seem to be a lot near the shrine, the police station, and I think the hospital. We couldn't see clearly, but there were zombies headed towards that direction. If we avoid these, we should be fine."

Later on, when everyone finished, Donn gathered everyone for a meeting before they slept.

"Okay, since the current situation is just as bad as being at war, at least one person should always be awake for guard duty. You'll never know what'll happen at night time, when everyone's asleep. Seeing as there are eight of us guys, and that it's already 9:00, guard duty will be an hour a person since we'll be leaving at six, with one person taking a two hour shift. I'll take the two hour shift."

"Well," Haruka meekly spoke up. "I can take an hour of guard duty. It's not fair that it's just the guys contributing."

"Well," Donn slowly said, scratching the back of his head while looking at the guys. Looking back at him, almost everyone looked fine with the idea. "If you're fine with it, I guess it's fine, but you'll be taking the morning shift."

"That's fine." Haruka smiled. She hates it when she isn't allowed to help just because she's a girl. She specifically trained to become a doctor just because she wanted to help others in any way she could. When people didn't let her, she'd get angry, but not enough to raise a fist.

"Then that's settled." Donn clasped his hands. "We leave for the apartment of JC tomorrow at six. Dismi— you guys can go to sleep now." Since he was the only soldier in the group, he wasn't used to ordering civilians around. Now that order has gone to hell, he decided that he'd stop speaking formally, but his habits as a soldier haven't left him completely.

Turning to look at his new comrades, Donn gets his rifle and gets ready for the first shift of guard duty. Later on, he'd wake up the next person and give him the gun, then that person would wake up another person. The cycle would continue until morning came, and hopefully, nothing bad would happen that night.

Moving towards the windows, he moved the curtains and looked out the window. He could still see fires coming from the city. Every now and then, there'd be a few gunshots, probably from people who were lucky enough to get their hands on a gun. Of course, the windows in their current "headquarters" weren't soundproofed, so screams from the city could still be heard. Donn was about to daze off when he saw a faint flashing light coming from one of the bags. Curious, he opened it and saw the cell phone of JC. It had a message. Opening his eyes a bit, he immediately woke JC up. As he did, he showed him the message and whispered in his ear. Slowly after, JC nodded, fiddled with his cell phone, then went back to sleep.

Going back to the chair by the window, Donn smiled. _'So they react to sound, huh? Interesting.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Back With Reo…<strong>

"Wow," Reo said, lying down on his bed, looking at the screen of his cell phone. _'Message Sent'_

"Does this mean that the phone lines are still up?" He muttered to no one in particular.

After cleaning the baths, the group decided to use two rooms instead of a room, a person, the reason being that it was safer to sleep in groups. Although it would make more sense to use one room for everyone, logic and teen psychology proved otherwise. Besides, they haven't reached that level of trust… yet.

The room Reo was in had two separate beds, and a small bathroom. The rest of the furniture was in the lobby, used as a barricade from the dead that littered the streets outside.

Just as he was lying down a few minutes ago, he had the sudden urge to play pong on his cell phone. As he took it out, a new idea came up. Why doesn't he try to send a message to someone in the other group? Since they figured out that the zombies react to sound, calling might be deadly given the right circumstances. With nothing else to do or lose, he composed a message.

"_Dude, if you're reading this, that means the cell phone network's still alive. It might die out soon though, in this scenario… Anyways, Jac and I are barricaded in this motel a few blocks down with three other survivors. We're fine now, but there's been a huge development. Turns out, the zombies react to sound. They don't seem to react to anything else: sight, touch, smell… and the other stuff. We combined with the other group we met a while ago. The meeting place stays the same, though we might detour through the shrine to get the weapons that were on display there. I don't think it's a bad thing given this situation."_

After re-reading the message one last time, Reo sends it, but doesn't expect that it would send. He took that back a few seconds later, as his screen flashed _'Message Sent'_.

Putting his phone away, Reo stretches a bit then yawns. _'And to think just one day was tiring…'_

And with that, he welcomed the night and gave in to sleep.

Sadly, he didn't notice the return message of JC.

'_That nice. Well, we're a bit better off on this side. We met Gab and a soldier, and have some guns now. Thanks for the info. If you're at the motel I think you're at, stay away from the shrine. Ramon said that the place is flooding with zombies. The weapons might not be worth it. Also beware of the police station and the hospital. There might still be some policemen in the station, but they might not be so friendly in this situation. Good luck.'_

To make things sadder, Reo doesn't really monitor his cell phone unless he needs to use it…

* * *

><p><strong>(AN):** See? That was a short chapter, wasn't it? Anyways, like I said, i'll try to make the next chapter specially long. But don't expect any early posts(not that I've done any). College is no joke. Hell, I might not even be able to write for some time. Well, I haven't updated the profiles log since nothing particularly new came up. Oh, and as for the story...

1. Yes, there is a zombie conveniently placed outside the door Rin checked.

2. Technically, the fire axe belongs to Justin, but since that would take away oh so many words, I just made it Reo's new weapon instead. Poor Justin...

3. Yeah, Kiyoko barely killed anything(if not none at all).

4. Just because a zombie is decapitated doesn't necessarily mean that it's dead. Chances are, the head's still alive, and is still capable of biting and infecting others.

5. With regards to the zombies, they hunt on sound. In the anime/manga, Takashi practically went face to face with a zombie without getting bitten, or alerting it. Since that was the case, I took out a few zombie detection means: Sight, Smell, Touch, and some kind of sixth sense. In the book of Max Brooks (epic guy), he said that zombies seem to have this "sixth sense" that locates humans, or any living thing.

Well, until next time! Hopefully, i'll be able to still write, even if it's a small portion.


	6. Phase 1: Chapter 5

**(A/N): **I'm not dead! I'm really sorry for the really long delay in publishing this chapter. College requires a lot of writing to be done, and it was kind of funny, since whenever I sit down to write, I get distracted by something else, ahahaha... Okay, so as promised, this chapter is a bit beefier than the others, since it's 6000 words long! I'll try to write faster, but again, I can't promise anything other than say that I'm not dead. **I DO NOT OWN HOTD. **Anyways, without further ado and random ramblings, the next chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Ch. 5<strong>

_Beep…beep…beep…beep...  
><em>

'…_shut up…'_

_Beep…beep…beep…beep..._

'…_five more minutes…'_

_Beep…beep…be—_

"Freaking infernal contraption!" Rin grabbed the alarm clock near her bed and threw it against the wall. After lying still for about a minute, she reached for her phone, which was next to the alarm clock before it was thrown.

_**5:03am**_

Sighing, Rin slowly got up and looked around. Hitomi and Kiyoko were still asleep in their own beds. Before they went to sleep, their room only had two beds. Instead of sharing them, the girls, more particularly Rin, had the guys haul in a bed from the next room. As a result, they were able to sleep on a bed each.

Almost mechanically, Rin went to the bathroom, washed herself, and got dressed. Since they weren't able to bring any other kind of clothing aside from their school uniform and training gear when the zombie apocalypse hit, Rin just put hers on again. She also made a mental note to get more clothes; from her house, or from some shop if they get the chance.

Going back to the bedroom, Hitomi and Kiyoko were already awake, with Hitomi stretching, and Kiyoko yawning. "We should get ready to move." Rin announced. "Hopefully, we'll be able to reach the shrine in two hours max."

"After that, do we still meet up with Seishin-san's group?" Hitomi asked, getting her bag and heading towards the bathroom.

"It'll be easier to survive with more people."

…**five minutes later**

Already dressed up and ready to leave, the girls checked if they had left anything, then picked up their weapons. Rin kept her wooden sword, Kiyoko still had the fire extinguisher and her wooden sword as a back-up, and Hitomi had her wooden sword, and the garden shear, through Reo's consent.

Just when they were ready to move out of the room, something banged on the door.

**Bang….. bang…..bang….**

"Tch." Rin grunted as she started to open the door. She was already starting to not like the other group. If they continue this prank, the zombies might hear… them…

As Rin opened the door, a male zombie just stood there. Acting on instinct, Rin pushed it back and took a quick peek at the hallway. There were more zombies coming in through the stairs. Had the barricade they had put up fallen already?

Seeing the same things Rin did, Hitomi started moving towards the guy's room. "We should regroup first!"

Quickly grabbing the door knob, she thanked whatever deity that was watching for keeping the door unlocked. She kept the door open for Rin and Kiyoko, before closing and locking it.

"What the hell?"

"Yeah," Hitomi said back to Rin, her eyes still watching the door. It would only be a matter of time before they're discovered, hopefully, they'll be able to escape by then. "They must have broken through the barricade."

"No… not that." Rin said, turning Hitomi around and pointing in the direction of the two beds. On it were Reo and Jac, still sleeping, oblivious to the impending danger that awaited them.

"They're…"

"Asleep." Rin stared as a vein started to throb on her forehead. She then grinned, her canines showing. "Isn't it about time they woke up?" Rin grabbed Kiyoko's fire extinguisher then made her way to the middle of the two beds. She pointed it at Jac before unleashing a wakeup call far worse than an alarm clock… being blasted with fire extinguisher foam.

"Aaaaahhh! What the hell!" Jac tried escaping from the foam before tripping on the bed sheets and colliding with the floor, head first. He then started to throw a long chain of expletives that Rin didn't mind. Instead, she focused the nozzle towards Reo, who was just waking up.

Puzzled by the sudden noise, Reo woke up, and turned his head towards the direction the sound came from. When he did, all he saw was a nozzle. Before he could open his mouth and say 'huh?', fire extinguisher foam blasted towards him and his semi-opened mouth. "Shnngt!"(shit!)

Three minutes and a fully prepared group later, bangs continued to shake the door. The zombies noticed them after Rin woke the two guys up and started banging on the door ever since.

"Okaay," Reo started. "I don't even want to know how many zombies are out there now. I suggest heading to the roof. There are never zombies there."

"Oh?" Rin said, raising her eyebrow. "And how do expect to do that without…" Reo opened the curtains. "Opening… fine."

As Reo opened the curtains, the group saw that the glass window was cleanly destroyed, leaving no shards of stray glass. Outside was a narrow pathway with another convenient ladder leading to the top.

"Ladies first." Reo said after taking a quick glance at the street. Since they were at the third floor, a slip up could and would be fatal. If the fall doesn't kill you, the zombies will.

"_WOW_" Rin sneered with sarcasm dripping from her words. "What a gentleman."

Reo smiled and stepped out of the window. "At least I asked."

The pathway to the ladder was narrow, but was big enough for a person to slip through. Slowly inching forward, Reo finally reached the ladder and started climbing up. Shortly after, Hitomi, Rin, Kiyoko and finally Jac made it up. Noticing the blood on Jac's weapon, Reo could only assume that the door didn't hold long enough.

"Okaay." Reo yawned. If left alone, he would usually sleep in until lunch time, so waking up this early still made him a bit sleepy. "So we head for the shrine?"

"The weapons on display there would be useful, so we should." Hitomi said. She then started to look around, then slowly raised her hand and pointed to a building in the distance. "It should be near that building over there."

"Then let's go."

For the duration of the trip, the group decided to stay relatively quiet. Only speaking when there's something important to say. As they reached the end of the block of rooftops they were crossing, Kiyoko looked down. "There aren't any zombies here."

True enough, while the road below them was relatively clear of zombies, there were still some corpses scattered around. The zombies probably moved on to greener pastures, or rather, live pastures.

"The shrine should be a few streets from here." Hitomi said, looking in the general direction of said shrine. "We would probably make it there in about thirty minutes tops once we get down. It seems safe anyways."

"Then we should be able to get down through that door." Rin points to a door to their left, walking towards it, and turning the handle. As the door creaked open, a bloody hand shot through and attempted to grab Rin's hand, only to grasp at open air. Biting back a curse, Rin threw her body against the door, trapping the flailing arm in place.

"Move aside!" Jac says as he runs to Rin, weapon ready. Rin immediately rolls to the side, letting the door burst open, with a bloody male zombie staggering out. Jac delivered a downward strike and promptly bashed its head in.

"Is this the only way down?" Jac asks, pointing to the now open door. "I swear, if a zombie suddenly pops out of nowhere…"

"Sadly, it seems that it is." Reo says. "Unless you want to backtrack all the way back and take the ladder there."

For a moment, Jac turned his head to look at the direction they came from. _'Walk all the way back…'_

"Then I'll take your silence as a no. Besides, if we go back, there would probably be a lot of zombies, am I right?" Reo crosses his arms, his eyes glistening with victory.

"…okay, fine!" Jac turns back towards the door leading into the building.

"But!" Jac adds, "I'm not going in first."

"Yeah, sure, you'll be our rear guard this time." Rin says. Then she points a finger at Reo. "Seishin-san over there will be leading as usual."

"Uhmm…" Reo scratches the back of his head. "Sure, but you're making me sound old. Just call me Reo."

Rin makes a small nod.

"So," Kiyoko speaks up. "Shall we enter?"

The group enters the building single file, with Reo at the front, followed by Hitomi, Kiyoko, Rin, and finally, Jac at the rear. The building they entered turned out to be a simple building three floors high with a few shops in it, just like the building with the hardware store. The only difference being that the stores were practically useless. They were all salons and toy shops, so the only useful things they were able to get were some shaving razors from the salons. The building was relatively clear, with only a few zombies lingering in the corridors. Not wanting to be followed later on, the group dispatched them neatly, and silently.

By the time they got to the first floor of the building, the lobby was filled with the dead. Not the Undead, mind you, the corpses they saw were all bitten up and fresh, as if they were killed just recently. Not wanting to linger around any longer, the group exits the building and once more enters the streets.

"The shrine is that way. We turn right at the third intersection, then go straight until we get to the shrine." Hitomi says in a relatively quiet tone, while pointing to the street in front of them.

Reo nods then continues forward, with everyone still in single file. _'something feels off…'_

As the group silently moved forward, an odd thing they all noticed was how everything was silent, and that there weren't any zombies, though there were corpses everywhere. The strangeness of it grows even more as they realize that they're in a residential area.

'_Where there are people, there are bound to be zombies'_ Rin silently thought. _'It's just so strange that there aren't any of the two.'_

Just as they reached the third intersection, there was a shout from the side. "Wait! Are you survivors?"

The group turned to the direction of the shout to see a grown man running to them with a small girl in hand. "Wait! I'm not one of those freaks!"

'_A survivor!'_ Hitomi thought. She was somewhat happy that other people were also able to survive the first day of the apocalypse.

"I'm so glad we bumped into other survivors!" The man said in between gasps for air. "I almost thought everyone else was dead."

"It's fine, uhmm… sir" Reo said.

"Oh, I'm Gorou Takehiko, and this is my daughter, Aya. I was a businessman before all this happened. I'm just glad my daughter is safe. When this all started, my wife, Aya, and I were in our car. The moment people started dying, Aya and I made it out, but…" Gorou said, his voice slowly trailing off. At the mention of her mother, Aya also seemed to look down. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

"Anyway, can we join the five of you? I was able to get an iron pipe to defend ourselves, so I should be able to help if necessary…" Gorou raised his other hand, and showed his blood stained iron pipe to the group. The blood stains on it showed that he must have killed something, so it wasn't completely for show.

"Sure!" Kiyoko happily remarked. "The more, the merrier, right?"

"Well," Rin said, a small smile forming on her lips. "It would boost our chances of surviving this nightmare, so yeah."

Smiling at the words of acceptance, Gorou bows his head a bit. "Thank you so much!"

At the sight of her father being happy, Aya also smiles a bit. "Daddy, who are they?" Quickly apologizing, the group introduces themselves to the two newcomers.

"Oh, by the way, Takehiko-san, we're headed towards the shrine to see if we can get any better weapons to defend ourselves." Reo adds shortly after. "After that, we're hoping to meet up with some of our friends in an apartment about an hour's walk away from here."

"Oh, there are more of you?" Gorou asks, amazed that they seem to know more survivors.

"Well, I hope they're still fine, but knowing them, they are." Reo answers. "So, shall we get going?"

The now group of seven continue walking down the last stretch to the shrine. Behind them, a corpse suddenly twitches…

**Meanwhile…**

"Weren't we supposed to leave thirty minutes ago?" Franz suddenly asks, looking at his watch which read _'6:32'_

"Well, we would have," Donn says, pointing at a door. "if it weren't for that."

Behind said door was not a horde of zombies, but one of the ultimate distractions and pleasures in life: a running shower with warm water. Although they all woke up at five in the morning, once they discovered that there was still warm water, everyone suddenly wanted to take a bath.

"Well," Donn sighs. "This might be the last shower they'll have with warm water, so I somewhat see why everyone wants to take a bath. Besides," He points a curious eyebrow at Franz. "Don't you also want to take a bath?"

"What?" Franz says, a confused expression on his face. "Of course I do! Who doesn't?"

For the first time that day, Donn face palms. "Well, if you can't beat 'em, join them." Although they were supposed to leave early, it would seem that leaving would take them a bit longer than usual.

**Back with Reo…**

Shortly after continuing their trek to the shrine, Reo quietly explains to their two new members about the circumstances involving the zombies, more importantly, on how they hunt by sound. Amazed and slightly worried by the new info, both father and daughter suddenly shut up, realizing that they were shouting and talking a bit loudly a while ago. Hopefully nothing noticed, right?

The rest of their walk was done in silence, the only noise they made was the footsteps they left behind. After a few minutes of walking, they suddenly saw the series of steps that lead to the shrine in the distance.

"It's the entrance to the shrine!" Hitomi softly remarks, looking happy. Hopefully, they'll find the weapons she thought were there.

"Let's walk faster." Reo suddenly said, face all serious. "Something feels off, and I don't like it."

"I second that." Rin agrees, crossing her arms. "The logic doesn't add up. We're in a residential district. It may sound weird, but I've been expecting a lot of zombies to pop up. Lately, we haven't found any. Doesn't that seem odd?"

"Come to think of it," Jac inserted, trying to remember something. "When you're bitten, don't you usually turn into a zombie? If that's really true, why are these corpses still corpses?"

"So does that mean…" Hitomi slowly says, her eyes narrowing. "That those corpses can turn into zombies any moment now?"

"B-but look around you!" Gorou nervously whispers, looking at their surroundings. "This street is practically a graveyard!"

"That's exactly why we need to move faster." Reo points out, already quickening his pace. The others quickly followed suit, not wanting to be left behind.

As they got nearer the Shrine entrance, the tension building around the group finally popped as a gunshot cracked behind them. Almost immediately, Gorou's right shoulder suddenly cracked open and gushed out blood. Falling to the floor, Gorou started screaming in pain while clutching his shoulder.

"Daddy!" Aya shouted and crouched, shocked by the sudden spectacle.

Almost acting on instinct, everyone else hit the ground, turning towards the source of the gunfire. At least three blocks away stood four males, three of them holding pipes, while the last one held a smoking pistol in his hands.

"Hey!" Reo shouted, moving behind a nearby parked car while dragging the pained father with him to safety, the others following him, moving behind other cars. "We're not one of those freaks! We're still alive!"

"Hahahahahaa!" The male with the gun started laughing. Soon after, the others started to laugh as well. As the laughter died down, the male with the gun, most presumably the leader, shouted back. "I know! But you're about to join them anyway!"

After screaming that last part, he motioned to the other three to move forward. Just like the typical gangster, they started slowly walking towards the parked car with Reo behind it. Grinning ear to ear the way hyenas would. A few meters from the car, the leader stopped and cocked his pistol. "Since I'm a merciful person, I'll give you all a minute to run away. After that, you'll either die by my hand, or those creatures. Your time starts NOW!" He shouts out the last part, putting more emphasis by shooting a bullet in the air.

Behind the parked car, Reo looked at the place where the others were hiding. He could barely spot Hitomi shaking her head, trying to mouth a few words. What they were, Reo couldn't make out. Looking back, Gorou was starting to look worse. His shirt was half drenched in his blood from the shoulder down. He stopped screaming, with Aya by his side, but that didn't help his current condition. Since the bullet left an exit wound, all they had to do was to somehow stop the bleeding. Reaching into his bag, Reo took out the towel he used in the motel and started to try wrapping it around the wounded shoulder.

"Hey, uhmm… Aya" Reo whispered, not wanting to attract the attention of the four men in front of the car. Aya, dried up tears still on her face, looks up. "I need you to hold this towel down so Daddy will stop bleeding, you can do that, right?" Aya nods. Reo then grabs his revolver and braces himself for what he was about to do next.

"Your minute is OVER!" The leader shouts, slowly advancing once again. "You should have accepted my generous offer and left, but I guess there's no stopping fate, now, is there?"

Before Reo had the chance to dash forward to attack the leader, he noticed the whole street slowly coming to life, as if the shouting a while ago woke it up. The leader and his goons though, were too busy gloating to notice. The leader, now only a few feet from getting a clear shot of the three, started laughing again.

"Ha…aahahahah...ahahahaAAAAGGHH" what seemed to be a laugh ended up becoming a scream. Curiously peeking out, Reo saw the leader clutching his leg, a nearby corpse suddenly biting it. His goons started to panic, seeing their leader get bitten. They started to bash at the zombie, giving Reo a much needed opening to exploit.

Seeing his chance, Reo dashed out of his hiding spot, and bashed the butt of his revolver in the leader's face, caving his nose in. Shrieking in more pain, the leader instinctively clutched his bashed-in nose, letting go of the pistol and falling down. Reo wasted no time in catching it and backing up, now playing the role of predator. He quickly checked his immediate surroundings for any stray corpses that might come back to life. Seeing none, he pointed both guns at the now scared group of goons.

"H-hey man," one of the goons stuttered, raising both his hands in surrender. "I didn't have a-anything to do with this, I swear!"

The other two goons seemed to agree, furiously nodding their heads before dashing away, the third one closely following their lead.

Left behind, the leader started to spew out curses and insults, raging at his subordinates' betrayal. With all his cursing, he didn't notice the other zombies standing up and moving towards him.

Noticing a spare clip on the leader's belt, Reo grabbed his fire axe and used it to hold the man down as he snatched the clip. "Sorry dude, but we might need this more than you do now."

Turning around, he sees that the others are already making their way to the shrine entrance, Kiyoko and Aya helping Gorou walk. Reo immediately noticed why, when countless corpses that were once dead suddenly started to stand up. Quickly surveying his surroundings, Reo observed this pattern: zombies, Reo, more zombies, others, even more zombies, shrine.

Not wasting any more time, Reo left the screaming leader and started to make his way to the others. _'He tried to kill us anyway.'_

With the zombies still dispersed and far apart, Reo just dashed past them, only knocking back those in reach. In a few seconds, he was already with the others, helping them move forward.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Rin hissed, pissed off. "Do you have a death wish?"

"Funny," Reo replies, bashing in the head of a nearby zombified student. "Someone once asked me that…"

"In any case," Hitomi cuts in. "We're almost at the entrance!"

True enough, the entrance was about ten meters away, with only a few zombies in their direct path. Before they could advance further, Gorou started to violently cough blood. Stopping for a while, the group looked at him, worried. In a soft gurgle, he called Reo. Putting Gorou down, Reo went up to him before ordering the others to go ahead, reasoning to them that it's easier if they provide support from ahead. The others hesitantly obeyed, leaving behind Gorou, Reo, and a tearing Aya.

"Reo," Gorou said, breathing in shallow gasps. "I'm… already an old man… I'll just slow you all down…" Before Reo could protest, he held his finger up. "Just… please… just protect Aya…"

At that, Aya hugged him, sobbing on her father's bleeding shoulder. After a few seconds, Gorou whispered something to Aya's ear, hugged her back, then pushed her away, signaling Reo to hurry and go. Before doing so, Reo placed his revolver in the dying man's hand, wanting to give him at least some form of defense. Gorou took it and silently thanked Reo by nodding his head. Surprisingly, Aya didn't struggle when Reo took her hand and started to move toward the shrine, just sparing one last look at her father.

As the two left, Gorou sadly smiled and checked how many bullets the revolver had. _'two bullets'_ Looking at his current surroundings, he saw wave upon wave of zombies advancing forward. Looking past those, he saw the leader being feasted on by a few zombies, his loud mouth spelling his doom. Further back, he saw some of the goons desperately fighting off some zombies, their previous plan on running away backfiring right away. For some reason, Gorou was happy. Although it sounds evil, he's happy that these hoodlums are dying. _'wouldn't want them roaming around and harassing people'_

Moving back to his current surroundings, he noticed at least seven zombies converging on him, only about four meters away. Using what was left of the time he had left, he prayed. He prayed for the safety of his daughter, that Reo's group would support her through this apocalypse, and that Aya would remember the promise they just made.

_After Aya started hugging him on what could probably serve as his deathbed, he whispered in her ear. "Aya… I need you to promise me… that you'll stay with Reo-san. Please think of him… as the onii-san you've always wanted… I trust him… please live for mommy and daddy's sake… okay?"_

_Being the good and smart girl that she was, Aya nodded, more tears gushing out of her eyes. After hugging as father and daughter for one last time, Gorou gently pushed her off of him, looking at Reo, nodding at him._

After remembering that last memory of his daughter, Gorou looked up to see that the zombies were now dangerously close to him. Raising the revolver he just got, he points it at one of the zombie's heads and pulls the trigger, blowing off one zombie's head. With one bullet left, he points it at his head, just as the remaining zombies start digging into his body. Closing his eyes, he pulls the trigger, his life burning away with a bang.

With the way to the entrance mostly cleared up thanks to the others, the two didn't have much difficulty in moving forward. As they reached the steps, everyone was quiet. Although only Reo and Aya knew what Gorou was saying, they still got the gist of what just happened, offering silent condolences to Aya.

Without wasting more time, they rushed up the steps finally leading up to the shrine. As they reached the top, they were greeted by a welcome sight: no zombies. Breathing a small sigh of relief, everyone walked to the entrance, as if their previous zombie threat just evaporated.

The shrine was just a simple one. It didn't have too many fancy ornaments or statues; just a few lit torches and candles. As the group entered, they paled. The inside was stained with blood. Now weary, the group moved in a single file again, the only difference being that Aya was in the middle with Kiyoko. After a quick search of the area, they didn't notice anything other than a corpse of a dead zombified student.

"So," Reo starts, looking at Hitomi. "Should we start looking for those weapons?"

"Ah, yes," Hitomi quickly looks around and points in a direction. "It should be this way, I'll lead."

After walking for a few seconds, the group encounters a padlocked door. Jac doesn't waste any time smashing the lock with his weapon. Hitomi pushes the door open and sees a welcoming set of armor on the floor, with two small weapon racks in front of it. It was the kind of armor the samurai use, and the blades in front of it consisted of two katanas, two wakizashis and one naginata. At the sight of the weapons in front of them, everyone seemed to look livelier.

After much thought into who would be most suited for the weapons, they decided that the two katanas would go to Reo and Hitomi, since they were more skilled at kendo than anyone else in their group. The two wakizashis would go to Rin, since she said she was fine with them. The naginata went to Kiyoko, to replace her sorry excuse for a weapon that was the fire extinguisher. As for the armor, everyone decided to at least get the arm parts. Just for kicks, Reo and Jac shared the arms parts, with Reo taking the right side arm parts, and Jac taking the left side parts. Finally, Reo gave the pistol and magazine he got from the leader hoodlum and gave it to Jac, who happily accepted it.

Now happy with their new weapons, everyone went outside once again, their new goal to get to the apartments. As they got to the courtyard, they were greeted by a small horde of zombies. However, instead of running away, or fearing for their lives, the group had the sudden urge to test the new weapons they just got.

"Aya," Reo knelt on one leg and placed his hand on Aya's shoulder. "I need you to stay with Rin and Kiyoko-san for now. She'll make sure none of those bad guys get to you." Looking up at Rin, who nods, Reo looks back at the others and grins. "Wanna see who gets the most kills?"

"Challenge accepted!" Jac grins, while Hitomi raises her eyebrow in confusion.

Unsheathing his new katana, Reo dashes to the first zombie, a businesswoman, and slashes at its temple, its head falling down in two separate pieces. Noting how easy it was to kill, Reo grins even more, looking at the small horde of about forty zombies. He rushed to the next zombie and cut it down with relative ease. After cutting down four more zombies, his blood started to boil. Enjoying the newfound sensation, the environment around his suddenly went dark, focusing only on the zombies. Without wasting any more time, he sprinted past zombie after zombie while slashing off their heads, grinning all the way.

Blood rage is contagious. Seeing Reo kill the zombies, Jac's competitive side flared up. He immediately ran to the first zombie he saw and brought his weapon down on its head, crushing it. He then delivered an upswing to the next zombie he saw and throwing a vicious armored uppercut to the zombie beside it at the same time. With his weapon now raised from the uppercut, he used its full force to swing it in a diagonal motion, bashing two nearby zombies into oblivion, and knocking another two down. Without wasting time, Jac leapt at the chance and stabbed one of the downed zombies in the head. With his armored hand, Jac grabbed the other downed zombie's face and repeatedly bashed it into the ground. Needles to say, those zombies ceased to move afterwards.

While the two boys were going berserk with their kills, Hitomi decided to play it safe. _'Better safe than sorry'_ A few seconds after watching Reo dash into the horde, Hitomi also drew her weapon and moved to her side of the killing field. Oddly enough, the courtyard was divided into three parts. The center had Reo in it. Jac took the right side, leaving Hitomi with the left side all to herself.

Normally, when faced against at least a dozen zombies alone, people would just give in to despair. One zombie might be easy, two may be slightly survivable, three might be tricky, but a dozen is almost like asking for a death wish. Of course, if armed with a weapon, that may change a bit. Even though she was still scared of the zombies, Hitomi still stood her ground against them.

'_Think of it as a sparring match.' _Hitomi thought to herself, trying to calm down first before taking the plunge. _'A one vs. Army sparring match…' _With that, she lowered her stance and dashed forward, her blade dragging behind her.

As Reo, Jac, and Hitomi were repelling the zombies from the front, Rin and Kiyoko just watched from the sidelines, staying at Aya's side. The girl had lost her entire family in a day, although that could be the same case with everyone in the group, it was still disheartening to see how a little kid turned into an orphan. They were currently near one of the lit torches, thinking that zombies were afraid of fire.

"Kiyoko! The zombies at the left!" Although their three group mates were quickly thinning out the zombie threat in front, a small number still managed to sneak past them and head towards Aya's direction.

Kiyoko turns to the left and sees a small force of three female zombies headed her way. Not wanting them risk having them come closer, Kiyoko walked toward the threat and twirled the naginata over her head and brought it down on the first zombie's head, crushing it under the blade at the tip. With a vertical twirling motion, Kiyoko sliced the second zombie from the stomach to the head with the bladed part, and knocked the third zombie down with the butt. She then thrust the naginata into the head of the floored zombie, and walked back to Rin and Aya.

After a few minutes, all the zombies that challenged them were deader than they were, with some of their limbs and brain matter strewn across the floor of the courtyard. Now tired from the fighting, Reo, Jac, and Hitomi gathered at where Aya was and sat down.

"So," Reo started, breathing deeply. "I got thirteen."

The girls just looked at him in confusion, before turning their heads at the next voice.

"Ha!" Jac stated, looking proud. "I got **fourteen**."

"What? Are you serious?" Reo asks, surprised at his marginal defeat.

"You would have won if you remembered to finish off that last kill of yours. That last cut of yours left the zombie with an arm, an upper torso, and the head. It was still moving, so I finished it off." Jac smirks.

"Kill stealer!" Reo exaggeratedly pointed at Jac, who just laughed.

"Tch!" Rin sighed. "Men…"

"Oh, come on," Kiyoko cheerily said, "At least everyone's fine."

"True, that was a good skirmish." Hitomi said, also tired from their last battle. "And everyone's safe, too."

"Wait," Reo looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Confused, Hitomi raises an eyebrow as well. "How many?"

"Huh?"

"How many kills?"

"I-is that really important? We should just be happy tha—" Hitomi stopped, as Reo and Jac started staring at her with comically straight faces. Not knowing whether to laugh or face palm, she decided to just tell them.

"I think I got twenty-three."

"I see— WHAT?" Reo does a double take as the number registered in his head. 13 23

"H-how?" Jac asked, his smirk turning upside down.

Hitomi crosses her arms and thinks aloud. "Well, while the two of you were turning zombies into art, I decided to go for the more effective headshots, see?" She points to the side she fought on, revealing a lot of corpses missing the top half of their heads. "It turned out to be effective, so I just kept repeating it."

Looking back at Reo and Jac, Hitomi bit back a laugh. Reo and Jac were just staring at her handiwork. While it was true that they weren't fighting as effectively as Hitomi, their kills were more brutalized. They left behind corpses with bashed-in skulls, corpses with no limbs, corpses without the lower half of their bodies, and lots more. Was the difference really that big?

"A-anyway," Reo broke out of his trance. We should rest a while before going back to our original objective: to meet up with our other group." Pausing a while, Reo asked the girls. "Are the three of you still tagging along? Or do you girls have a different plan?"

"For the time being, we decided to stick with you guys." Hitomi states. "It's easier to survive with more people anyways…"

Kiyoko smiled and looked like she was about to say something, but Rin cut her off, already having an idea of what it was. "If we have a different plan, we'll just say so later on. After all, we wouldn't want to be the only girls in a group." Noticing the slightly sad looks on her comrade's faces, then looking at the questioning glare of the guys, Rin clarified her point. "Now that there aren't any baths, it'll stink a lot."

The boys slowly decided to let it go, though, Jac was still somewhat irritated by that thought. Just then, everyone but Aya suddenly sneezed at the same time…

"…what was that?"

**Meanwhile…**

'8:34'

"Oh my god!" Franz suddenly says. "we haven't even left, and it's already eight-friggin' thirty!"

"Well," Donn started, rolling his eyes. "Everyone suddenly decided to take a bath, and since you guys were too scared to use different bathrooms, we were stuck to using only two of them."

"Hey!" Bryan exclaims. "We're most vulnerable in the shower. What would you do if a zombie suddenly attacks you, clothe yourself first and die, or kill it while you're naked? Hell, the worst thing that could happen is if we suddenly have to fight a horde in nothing but towels. That's just scary…"

Sighing, knowing that he too took a good ten minutes in the shower, Donn just took his rifle. "That aside, let's move!"

* * *

><p><strong>(AN):** That felt a bit bitersweet... Anyways, I'll see if I can update the profiles page, but again, I'm not too sure on when it'll be updated on site. I also missed a few things when I researched on the anime/manga: It turns out that the zombies also react to heat, (Manga, ch 1 or 2 ) somewhat explaining why I had the 3 girls stay near the lit torch. Anyways, I'm still trying to get some facts up, so if I said something stupid, just tell me. I'm not sure when I can update again, but I'll try to put up some kind of word count for the next chapter, to show my current progress(like when I'm writing and when I'm lazy). I'll post again after 5,000 words, or more, if the story's nice. Oh, and as a note, I think I'll change the rating to 'T'. Aside from a few curses, I don't plan on writing anything else, like lemons, or whatnot.

';...;' - "raaawr"


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